Earlier today, the N.C. House Select Committee on CON and other Hospital Related Issues announced that they are not recommending any changes to Mission Health’s Certificate of Public Advantage at this time. Recently, the committee had made a series of five recommendations.
However, the committee decided not to adopt any of them at this time followed by an further investigation into these issues. Below is a statement from the WNC Community Healthcare Initiative. According to its website, the WNC Community Healthcare Initiative considers Misison’s COPA to be “an outdated, poorly supervised COPA” that “has allowed Mission Health System to gain unreasonable control of health care in the region.”
The statement below is from Graham Fields from Park Ridge Health on behalf of the WNC Community Healthcare Initiative, who attended today’s meeting in Raleigh:
“We are encouraged by the committee’s commitment to preserving patient choice and access in the region. This process so far has shown the need for even greater monitoring and oversight of Mission and it’s COPA. It is rare for a committee to continue work after the end of the Legislature and it demonstrates the complexity of this issue and the potential widespread implications for the people of WNC. The five year compliance audit of Mission’s activities under the COPA will shed light on what recommendations are necessary. This process will continue and Mission’s COPA is clearly under investigation. If Mission continues its aggressive expansion in the region while the committee is still completing its work, such action could only be viewed as an effort to undermine the legislative process.”
