Residents voice worries about hospital’s future
Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
Concerned citizens packed a community meeting to discuss the Blue Ridge Regional Hospital last week.
Dogwood Health Trust and Affiliated Monitors hosted the meeting at Cross Street Commerce Center on June 11. Dogwood, a private charitable foundation, hired Affiliated Monitors, Inc. earlier this year to monitor compliance with the legal conditions imposed on HCA Healthcare’s purchase of the Mission Health System.
A handful of audience members got up to ask questions at the end of the meeting. Although the organizers spoke mostly about HCA’s compliance with the terms imposed on it by the state of North Carolina when it purchased Mission Health, many of the community members who spoke were more concerned that those terms allow HCA too much leeway in potentially reducing services in the future.
“One of the concerns people have is how long services will be maintained and how long hospitals will stay open,” said Gerald “Jerry” Coyne of Affiliated Monitors. “And very typically there is a guaranteed time period in the [sale] contract—there is in this one as well. There is specific terms in this contract that hospitals have to maintain certain services … and also that hospitals have to stay open for 10 years.”
However, the Asset Purchase Agreement under discussion does allow HCA to curtail certain services after five years. HCA purchased Mission Health in 2019. Coyne said that these time limitations are reasonably standard for purchase agreements like this one.
Coyne noted that if patients or community members become concerned that the quality of medical services goes downhill in ways not protected by the terms of the hospital purchase they might be best served by complaining to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
At the beginning of the meeting, Dogwood CEO Susan Mims spoke briefly to explain the purpose of her organization, which was formed using funding from the sale of Mission Health.
“Our purpose is to improve the health and well-being of all people in the communities in the 18 counties of Western North Carolina,” Mims said. “We do that work by focusing on the conditions of how and where people live, access to an education, their economic opportunities, and their overall health and wellness.”
After Mims, three representatives of Affiliated Monitors, a company that provides various compliance services, explained what their business is trying to do in monitoring HCA’s management of local health services.
After the meeting, Gloria Schulman of Spruce Pine said she was concerned that Blue Ridge Regional Hospital might eventually have to close.
“With this hospital, I’ve always gotten excellent, excellent care, and I’d hate to see it go,” Schulman said.
Susanne Schafer of Spruce Pine asked a question about how to make sure questions and complaints reach Affiliated Monitors. Denise Moran, AMI’s Director of Healthcare Monitoring Services, said that there will be a hotline and an interactive web form in the future, but for now concerns can be emailed to mission@affiliatedmonitors.com.
Dr. Michael Messino, who founded Messino Cancer Centers in Grassy Creek, expressed pessimism about the hospital’s future after the meeting.
“I think they’ll close the hospital down when the 10 years comes up,” Messino said. “The only [services] they have to have is the emergency room, surgery, and acute medicine.”