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From Staff Reports
Citing a desire to increase choices for patients to receive high-quality healthcare and more opportunities for medical professionals to build careers, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved a letter of support for an alternatively owned hospital during its regular meeting on June 7.
The 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan “has identified a need for 67 acute-care beds in the Buncombe-Madison-Yancey-Graham service area, which presents a rare opportunity to introduce a new hospital-provider and stimulate competition,” the county stated in a June 7 press release.
“Since 1995, Mission has operated as the sole hospital provider in Buncombe County. After the not-for-profit health care system was sold to for-profit HCA in 2019, residents have been increasingly vocal of their desire for improved access and patient choice.”
The release then quotes board Chairman Brownie Neman as saying prior to the commissioners’ vote to approve the letter, “The letter does not endorse any one organization, but does endorse that we would like to see alternatives, and possibly the presence of a nonprofit.
”If we do approve this letter, I just want to make it clear that it is not just from the chair, but is on behalf of the entire Board of Commissioners,” Newman said.
What’s more, Commissioner Terri Wells was quoted in the release as saying “We clearly hear from the community that they would like choice.”
During the June 7 board meeting, a county staff report noted, “The 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan has identified a need for 67 acute care beds in the Buncombe-Madison-Yancey-Graham service area.”
Newman said while no particular beneficiary of the CON was attached to the application, at least two large hospital systems with an established presence in North Carolina — AdventHealth and Novant Health — already had expressed interest in submitting proposals. Newman also said he found it appealing that both health systems are nonprofits.
The staff report stated that the “alternatively owned facility” would “stimulate competition.”
“What was not part of the discussion was that Asheville-based Mission Hospital representatives also had expressed an interest in applying for the same CON,” a story in Tribune Papers reported. (Mission is owned by HCA Healthcare, a Nashville, Tenn.-based for profit.)
“Therefore, the commissioners’ letter spoke in opposition to Mission expanding even more,” the Tribune story noted. “Since being purchased by HCA, Mission, for years a nonprofit, has fallen from grace in the court of public opinion, with tales of woeful understafffing, lack of cleanliness and other cost-cutting measures overshadowing the efforts of Mission’s doctors, nurses and staff.”
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Following is the text of the letter, dated June 7, sent on behalf of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, signed by its chairman, Brownie Newman, to Michaela Mitchell, chief of Healthcare Planning and Certificate Need Section in Raleigh, regarding “Support for alternatively owned hospital in Buncombe County”:
Dear Ms. Mitchell:
Please accept this letter demonstrating the full support of the Buncombe County Board of Commissiones for an alternatively owned hospital for new acute care hospital choices in Buncombe County.
The basic principles of the state health planning process are intended to promote competition in healthcare by ensuring quality, access and value. The 2022 State Medical Facilities Plan has identified a need for 67 acute care beds in the Buncombe-Madison-Yancey-Graham service area, which presents a rare opportunity to introduce a new hospital-provider and stimulate competition.
Since 1995, Mission has operated as the sole hospital-provider in Buncombe County. After the not-for-profit health care system was sold to for-profit HCA in 2019, residents have been increasingly vocal of their desire for improved access and patient choice.
A new hospital in the Asheville area would mean more choices for patients to receive high-quality health care close to home and more opportunities for dedicated medical professionals to build their careeers in our community.
For these reasons, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners urges the Division of Heath Service Regulation to approve a nonprofit acute health care choice in the Asheville area, such as Advent-Health or Novant Health. This will offer patients and physicians a choice for the first time in Buncombe County and will provide a much-needed service for the growth population in the Buncombe-Graham-Madison-Yancey County service area.
Sincerely,
Brownie Newman, Chair
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