Mission Health Receives Extension on Medicare Program Participation Termination Date

Mission Health has received another notice concerning compliance issues from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The termination date for Mission Hospital’s and Asheville Surgery Center’s participation in the Medicare program has now been extended to June 5, 2024. Just last month, the hospital was notified it was in immediate jeopardy of losing Medicare funding because of non-compliance issues.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a notice to the hospital group on March 8 in response to the federal inspection at Mission in late February. According to CMS, that survey found six areas of non-compliance.

The letter states, “Although it was determined, based on that revisit survey, that the immediate jeopardy had been removed, the survey revealed that condition-level noncompliance continued with respect to various aspects.”

One of the areas of concern is Emergency Services. An investigation uncovers long ambulance hand off times at the ER.

Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell issued a statement reassuring that the situation remains the same as when the immediate jeopardy was lifted. She mentioned that Mission Health is in close communication with the agency and will resubmit the approved plan of correction.