News Coverage of Reclaim and Mission Hospital
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March 31, 2026; Carolina Public Press
With four “Immediate Jeopardy” citations in five years, Asheville’s Mission Hospital is on a “merry-go-round” of compliance enforcement by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, one that won’t stop unless either regulators or HCA Healthcare get serious about making meaningful change, according to State Sen. Julie Mayfield.
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April 6, 2026; Avl Watchdog
Since HCA bought Mission, the hospital has struggled with recruiting and retaining nurses. Despite hiring drives, bonuses for referrals and hiring, online job listings indicated on April 3 that Mission has 182 unfilled nursing positions in Asheville.
Fewer nurses mean more patients per nurse. Across the industry, the impact of adding even one additional patient to a nurse’s case load increases the chances that essential checks are easily missed, said Dr. Julie Siemers, a former ICU and trauma nurse and nursing educator, speaking generally about the impact of staffing levels on nurses’ workloads. (Siemers is not affiliated with Mission.)
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February 2, 2026; Asheville Watchdog
At least four times since the sale — 2021, 2024, 2025, and now 2026 — inspectors from the state and federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have concluded that HCA/Mission’s noncompliance with federal health and safety regulations “has placed the health and safety of recipients in its care at risk for serious injury, serious harm, serious impairment, or death.”
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October 21, 2025; Asheville Watchdog
“Unfortunately, this is not the first-time that Immediate Jeopardy has been invoked against them due to staffing that continues to put patients in danger of serious injury, harm, impairment, or death,” Sarver said. “Step one is to restore staffing at Mission to safe levels. The core issue is that nurses, techs and support staff are overburdened and cannot reasonably provide quality care to all the patients they are responsible for.”
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September 17, 2025; Asheville Watchdog
“A Mission Hospital cardiac patient died in late July after becoming disconnected from telemetry monitoring for at least an hour, and hospital administration repeatedly refused to hold an emergency meeting requested by union nurses about the incident, according to union leaders and emails obtained by Asheville Watchdog.”
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September 15, 2025; WLOS
“State and local leaders joined doctors and former patients Monday to demand more staffing and transparency at Mission Hospital, citing what they described as preventable deaths and unsafe conditions this summer.”
“It was part of a press conference with Reclaim Healthcare WNC, which describes itself as a group of physicians, nurses, elected officials, clergy, attorneys, and business leaders "committed to demonstrating unwavering support for staff at Mission Health and holding HCA accountable through the empowerment of our community."
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August 13, 2025, WLOS
“An 11-page Mission Hospital deficiency report investigating a 54-year-old male patient’s death shows the patient died from cardiac arrest in a waiting room bathroom after being left unattended for 29 minutes.”
“The report by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, refers to the 54-year-old as patient 41.”
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“North Carolina’s new Attorney General, Jeff Jackson, said Thursday he will continue the legal battle against HCA Healthcare that his predecessor, now-Gov. Josh Stein, started in December 2023.”
“Stein’s lawsuit, filed on behalf of Dogwood Health Trust, alleges HCA failed to maintain then-current levels of emergency services and oncology services as it promised when it bought the nonprofit Mission Health system in 2019 for $1.5 billion.“
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February 28, 2025; Blue Ridge Public Radio
“Buncombe County’s state senator on Friday called out what she described as “chronic understaffing” at Mission Health, which some believe contributed to a patient’s death in the ER earlier this month.”
“N.C. Sen. Julie Mayfield joined current Mission Health employees, clergy, and public safety officials in a press conference held at the Buncombe County Administration building. The group called on HCA Healthcare – which owns Mission Health Hospital in Asheville – to increase staffing and transparency.”
The Asheville Watchdog is the authoritative source for information about Mission Hospital and the decline in care under the ownership of HCA.
From investigative reporting to breaking news, and everything in between, they are an invaluable asset to our community.
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