ASHEVILLE – Following the blistering 384-page report detailing deficiencies at Mission Hospital and four patient deaths, state and federal regulators are surveying the hospital.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have been surveying the hospital since Feb. 20, state Sen. Julie Mayfield told the Citizen Times in a Feb. 21 message. An NCDHHS spokesperson confirmed state and federal regulators' presence at the hospital in a Feb. 21 email. The Asheville Watchdog first reported the state survey.
CMS informed Mission Hospital Chief Executive Officer Chad Patrick in a Feb. 15 letter that the federal agency accepted the hospital’s plan to correct deficiencies.
"We are pleased that CMS accepted our Plan of Correction and we will continue to collaborate with the surveyors through this process," Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell told the Citizen Times in a Feb. 21 statement.
That letter conveyed that the North Carolina survey agency would conduct an unannounced revisit survey by Feb. 24 to determine if the Immediate Jeopardy conditions at the hospital have been removed.
Mission Hospital has enacted drastic operational changes, including rapid turnaround time goals for emergency department patients and their lab work and enhanced communication procedures, all as state investigators have returned to the Asheville facility this week following recent federal findings of serious deficiencies and immediate jeopardy.
Patients should be seen, triaged, and assigned to a nurse within 10 minutes under new policies that also press for lab orders to be collected within 30 minutes, according to internal hospital documents obtained Feb. 20 by Asheville Watchdog.
N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) investigators visited HCA Healthcare-owned Mission on Feb. 20, according to two hospital sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution, and communications obtained by The Watchdog. It is unknown how long the investigators will be at the hospital.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Former Mission Health professionals and a state lawmaker call the Plan of Correction (POC) submitted by HCA/Mission Hospital to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) "insufficient" and, if implemented, would continue to leave patients at risk of harm.
The memo, released Wednesday, Feb. 21, said medical providers, along with state Senator Julie Mayfield, will discuss the group's major concerns with the plan during a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 22.
PATIENT DEATHS, INJURIES, CARE DELAYS AT MISSION DETAILED IN NEWLY-RELEASED REPORT
Mission Health was required to submit a POC to address safety issues after CMS told the hospital system it was violating Medicare conditions of participation and "the noncompliance posed immediate jeopardy to patients' health and safety."
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — On Wednesday, Feb. 21, News 13 confirmed federal health inspectors were back at Mission Hospital, just days after releasing the 384-page report that highlights cases where patients died as a result of alleged issues inside the hospital and the Emergency Room.
“The families of these patients should be outraged,” said Dr. Allen Lalor, who worked 27 years as an ER doctor at Mission and affiliated rural hospital. “HCA prioritizes money instead of putting enough nurses in the ER.”
Lalor said he hopes families will go public. HCA submitted its action plan to address issues, which was released with the 384-page report.
“We are pleased that CMS accepted our Plan of Correction,” said Nancy Lindell, HCA’s spokesperson. “And we will continue to collaborate with the surveyors through this process.”
The governor's executive order has aggressive goals to conserve, restore the state's natural lands. But what happens after Cooper leaves office in January?
Earlier this month, Gov. Roy Cooper signed an executive order laying out an aggressive plan to conserve, restore and grow the state's natural resources, including forests, wetlands and urban treescapes.
“As our state continues to grow, we must be mindful to conserve and protect our natural resources and this historic executive order sets clear goals and puts a plan in place that will help us leave our state better than we found it for generations to come,” the governor said in a statement.
But the order sets a deadline of 2040, well after Cooper leaves office in January, and would require the support of future administrations. It also requires the participation of private partners and other governmental agencies, both local and federal, to meet its ambitious goals.
The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing five environmental organizations, filed a federal lawsuit last month against the U.S. Forest Service, opposing a proposed timber harvest in the Nantahala National Forest in the far western corner of North Carolina.
The site is only 15 acres. But the lawsuit could have dramatic implications for future timber cutting in the region.
Referred to as stand 41-53, along the Whitewater River in Jackson County, the site is part of an area known as the Southside Project. The US Forest Service finalized the scope of the Southside Project in 2019, which includes the timber harvest of trees on 300 acres in 23 separate stands within a 19,000 acre section of national forest land near the Georgia and South Carolina state lines. The average size of each stand is 22 acres.
In all, the Southside Project will use timber prescriptions, such as cutting trees, controlled fire and other techniques to manage the forest.
The legal complaint, focusing on the 15-acre timber harvest, argues that the Southside Project is inconsistent with the U.S. Forest Service’s new plan for North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest and Nantahala National Forest, which the agency released in February 2023.
As the primary election approaches, candidates at the top and bottom of the ballot are competing for a spot in the general election.
But for the Buncombe County Clerk of Superior Court race, there are only two Democratic candidates in the primary, and no other candidates filed for the seat. The primary election on March 5 will decide the entire race. Early voting opened Feb. 15.
This election pits the current clerk, Jean Marie Christy, against her challenger, Johanna Finklestein. The Citizen Times posed three questions to both candidates.
Christy replaced Steven Cogburn, who retired in early 2023 after holding the position for 14 years. Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Alan Thornburg initially picked longtime assistant clerk Ryan Stone to take Cogburn's spot. The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts stymied that plan when they learned that a family member also worked at the office. Christy was Thornburg's next choice.
Eight candidates are vying for three open City Council seats in the March primary. The Asheville Citizen Times put five questions before candidates — covering housing, homelessness, policing and infrastructure.
The approaching March 5 primary will narrow the field of eight Asheville City Council candidates to six. The top vote-getters will move on to the general election in November.
Early voting began Feb. 15.
Incumbents Sage Turner and Kim Roney are running for re-election. Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore, who holds the third open seat, announced she would not be running again.
Turner and Roney were both first elected to council in 2020.
LIST at the link above.
ArtsAVL has come a long way during Katie Cornell’s tenure as executive director. Yet even more significant challenges and opportunities lie ahead as the fifth anniversary of her hiring approaches.
In early February, the designated arts agency for Buncombe County opened its survey to collect feedback from local artists and arts organizations about affordability and space challenges. The survey addresses what the ArtsAVL team sees as the top issue for area creators.
“This is what we’re hearing across the board: Artists are being pushed out. They can’t afford to live here anymore. They can’t afford to do their work here,” Cornell says. “And we’re hearing arts organizations are having a really hard time. Magnetic Theatre just lost their space. They’re having a hard time finding places for rehearsal and performance — not just their home base location. So, affordability is a huge issue.”
The study builds on Artspace’s 2018 Arts Market Study and looks at data from local arts professionals and businesses in the Asheville metro area (Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties). The Creative Spaces survey is open through Monday, March 11, and the more artists who take it, the more data ArtsAVL will have to advocate for local creatives.