North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein has sent a letter to HCA Healthcare asking the company to address several concerns related to its management of Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health, according to The Citizen-Times.
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of Mission, a six-hospital system, in February 2019. During a series of meetings across Western North Carolina in recent months, hundreds of people voiced concerns and questions about HCA's management of Mission to an independent monitor hired to oversee HCA's compliance with obligations stemming from its acquisition. Mr. Stein has also received an influx of complaints.
Since the beginning of this year, Mr. Stein and his office have received 30 written complaints. In a Feb. 25 letter to the president of HCA's North Carolina Division, Mr. Stein listed four main areas of concern: billing inconsistencies, quality of care, charity care policies and the absence of a sexual assault nurse examiner at one of Mission's hospitals.
"Some of the stories in these complaints are harrowing to read, and we are taking all of them seriously," Mr. Stein wrote in the letter, according to The Citizen-Times.
Mr. Stein asked HCA to provide information and several documents related to the concerns raised by March 11.
"We are aware of the comments in Attorney General Josh Stein's letter; we have been communicating with his office and we welcome the opportunity to continue the discussion with him about our commitments to our community," a Mission Health spokesperson said in an email to The Citizen-Times.