Mission CEO Responses To Recommendations From State Regulators
Over the weekend, Mission Health CEO Greg Lowe responded to recent reports stating that state regulators recommended that Mission Health be placed back in immediate jeopardy with the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid programs.
In response to the news, Mission Health CEO Greg Lowe sent out an email addressing various concerns related to the response from state regulators. Lowe noted that over two-thirds of the complaints investigated by state regulators were dismissed as “baseless.” He noted that Mission’s team worked with regulators, sending over 200 documents within a two-week period, and he thanked his team for their cooperation with regulators. Lowe noted that Mission Health had already enacted a comprehensive plan for corrective actions to address concerns about patient safety.
The state regulators highlighted two issues in their recommendation for Mission Health to be placed in immediate jeopardy. The first issue was for patient monitoring during transportation, which alleged that Mission did not provide proper monitoring during three incidents on July 26th, August 19th, and September 4th. The second issue was an incident regarding infection prevention practices, which was determined to no longer be an issue.
Lowe questioned whether state regulators were being pressured by political outside groups, regardless of the facts. He observed that regulators were at Mission longer than usual, and unlike before, the state regulators did not include the fact of Mission’s comprehensive plan for corrective action. As we have previously reported, the outside groups have a history of attacking Mission Health, even if the hospital is already taking the action they are demanding.
In response to the letter from state officials, the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid said, “CMS Regional Office will make the determination of compliance or noncompliance and will notify you of their findings and of any action to be taken.”
Back in early 2024, Mission Hospital was placed in immediate jeopardy by CMS. Normally, immediate jeopardy citations go unreported, as the Healthcare Journalism blog points out, 46 hospitals were placed in immediate jeopardy in the first six months of 2024, and the vast majority of these cases went unreported. Since 2020, hospitals across North Carolina have received 58 immediate jeopardy notifications. The 2024 citation followed the usual pattern: Mission Health submitted a plan to address the problem, and federal regulators cleared it.
