Mission Health has permanently closed Asheville Specialty Hospital, the only long-term acute care hospital in western North Carolina, less than two months after suspending its services following Tropical Storm Helene.
“We have made the difficult decision to not reopen Asheville Specialty Hospital, a small, long-term acute care facility located inside the St. Joseph’s campus,” Mission Health spokesperson Nancy Lindell said Monday. “We have had to focus on prioritizing our resources during and after Hurricane Helene to care for the most urgent medical needs of our community. Since Hurricane Helene, ASH employees have been caring for patients at Mission Hospital and that continues to be where they are most needed.”
The 34-bed Asheville Specialty included a comprehensive stroke center, dialysis services, physical and speech therapy, and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, among other services, according to Mission’s website. The next closest long-term acute facility, or LTACH, is in Greenville, South Carolina, a little more than 60 miles away.
The facility was one of three services that Mission Health temporarily shut down after Helene crippled western North Carolina and left Asheville, and Mission Hospital, without water. CarePartners and Solace hospice care also closed and more than 250 employees had to take temporary positions as patients were ported out to facilities in the region and out of state.
Asheville Watchdog reached out to Asheville Specialty’s current medical director Ronnie Jacobs, but did not hear back before publication.
“It is a big deal,” former medical director Scott Joslin said of Asheville Specialty’s closure. “Having a long-term acute care hospital provides the western North Carolina area with a site where patients who have been ill for a very long period of time and still have some acute care needs can get that long-term acute care.”
Dr. Scott Joslin, once director of Mission’s hospitalist program, currently works at the Asheville VA but served as medical director of Asheville Specialty from January through September 2022.
“It is a big deal,” Joslin said of the closure. “Having a long-term acute care hospital provides the western North Carolina area with a site where patients who have been ill for a very long period of time and still have some acute care needs can get that long-term acute care.”
Patients who would have been admitted to Asheville Specialty will now go to inpatient rehabilitation, skilled nursing care or another long-term acute care facility, Lindell said, but she did not provide specifics. Lindell also did not respond to questions about how many patients and employees the closure affected.
Mission has permanent roles available for every caregiver who wants to stay with the company, Lindell said.
The closure does not violate agreements HCA made when it bought the Mission Health system, according to Gerald Coyne of Affiliated Monitors, the independent monitor responsible for holding HCA accountable for honoring agreements it made to the North Carolina attorney general’s office before the sale.
Asheville Specialty Hospital’s closure does not violate agreements HCA made when it bought the Mission Health system, said Gerald Coyne of Affiliated Monitors, the independent monitor responsible for holding HCA accountable for honoring agreements it made to the North Carolina attorney general’s office before the sale. // Credit: Affiliated Monitors
“I don’t believe it’s a required service,” Coyne said. He said he looked at the Asset Purchase Agreement (APA) when he heard the news of the closure but didn’t see anything that required Asheville Specialty to stay open for 10 years after the purchase.
“If it’s not part of the APA, there’s a limit to what we as the monitor can critique,” Coyne said. “We can’t say they’re violating it for sure. We are, of course, concerned, with the overall delivery of healthcare services. But… I’m not surprised that in the wake of some really horrific events, that there’s going to be some changes and we’ll just kind of try to look at them as a whole, rather than individually.”
Joslin, the former hospitalist, worked on and off with Asheville Specialty for more than 20 years and said the shuttering is likely related to operational efficiency. He said the age of the building could have contributed to the decision as well.
He said the building of the North Tower at least in part was influenced by the quality of the St. Joseph’s building where Asheville Specialty resides.
“One of the drivers behind the decision to build the North Tower was that, over time, the old St Joseph Hospital was becoming more expensive to maintain,” Joslin said. “It was nearing the end of its useful life at about age 50, and I was aware that we were having water leaks and electrical failures and infrastructure failures that they were trying to keep up with.”
There were conversations about potentially relocating, he noted. Lindell did not answer The Watchdog’s question when asked if Mission would try to re-establish another LTACH in the region.
“As more and more resources have moved out of the St Joseph building … the utility of keeping that open has become more and more questionable, both as a strategic decision as well as a financial decision, at least by my understanding.”
Although Asheville Specialty won’t reopen, Mission Health is starting to resume CarePartner services, Lindell said.
“With the return of municipal water, we began reopening CarePartners Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital on Nov. 21,” Lindell said. “Teams are starting to return to roles there and we have begun admitting patients. We hope to have a date set soon for when we can begin to reopen CarePartners Solace.”
In December 2023, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein sued HCA and Mission Health, alleging that they violated commitments made in the asset purchase agreement regarding cancer care and emergency services at Mission Hospital.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Andrew R. Jones is a Watchdog investigative reporter. Email arjones@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-01 13:55:00
(The Center Square) – Diversity polices in state government would be eliminated if legislation passing the North Carolina House of Representatives becomes law.
Equality in State Agencies/Prohibition on DEI, known also as House Bill 171, is in the Senate’s Rules Committee after clearing the lower chamber 69-45. No Democrats supported it, and no Republicans were against.
“Bureaucracy has grown, not to serve but to sort, dividing people by race, sex, background, and calling it progress,” Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, said in his floor speech for the bill he authored. “It puts an end to the idea that the background should outweigh ability. It stops public jobs, promotions and contracts from being awarded based on political agendas, and it restores the principle that should have never been lost: Can you do the job? Did you earn it? Are you qualified?”
He told the chamber the proposal will ensure hiring and promotion decision based on qualifications. He also took time to explain it will not ban Black History Month, Pride Month or any cultural celebrations; rather, he said, “it explicitly protects them.”
“It bans unequal treatment funded by the public,” Jones said.
Rep. Robert Reives, D-Chatham, leader of the minority party in the chamber, on the floor said, “Rep. Jones said, ‘We value diversity.’ But the first line of this bill says, ‘an act eliminating diversity initiatives.’ You cannot value what you are seeking to eliminate.”
The bill says, “No state agency shall promote, support, fund, implement, or maintain workplace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), including using DEI in state government hirings and employment; maintaining dedicated DEI staff positions or offices; or offering or requiring DEI training.”
The Senate has passed bills banning DEI in higher education and K-12 schools.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
This article presents a factual report on the legislation in North Carolina that seeks to eliminate diversity policies in state government, particularly those related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). While it quotes both Republican Rep. Brenden Jones and Democratic Rep. Robert Reives, the tone of the article leans more toward reporting the bill’s proponents’ arguments and framing them in terms of qualifications and fairness. The language used by Rep. Jones emphasizes the idea of “restoring” principles and focuses on qualifications rather than background, which suggests a right-leaning stance. The article does not delve into a detailed counter-argument but merely reports the stance of Rep. Reives, the opposing Democrat, creating an imbalance in the attention given to the two sides of the debate. Additionally, the mention of bills already passed banning DEI in higher education and K-12 schools supports the right-wing position of the bill, without offering a deeper critique from the opposition’s perspective. This focus on the right-wing perspective aligns the article with a Center-Right bias. The content adheres to factual reporting, but the selection of language and emphasis on the arguments from proponents suggests a more conservative stance.
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-05-01 08:16:00
(The Center Square) – Taxpayers in North Carolina will face an average tax increase of $2,382 if the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expires at the end of the year, says the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
Results of analysis were released Thursday morning by the nonprofit organization billing itself a “nonpartisan research and educational affiliate of the National Taxpayers Union.” Its four state neighbors were similar, with South Carolina lower ($2,319) and higher averages in Virginia ($2,787), Georgia ($2,680) and Tennessee ($2,660).
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of eight years ago was a significant update to individual and business taxes in the federal tax code. According to the Tax Foundation, it was considered pro-growth reform with an estimate to reduce federal revenue by $1.47 trillion over a decade.
Should no action be taken before Jan. 1 and the act expire, the federal standard deduction would be halved; the federal child tax credit would decrease; higher federal tax brackets would return; the federal estate tax threshold will be lower; and some business tax benefits will be gone.
The foundation, in summarizing the impact on North Carolina business expensing, says the state conforms to Section 168(k). This means “only 60% expensing for business investments this year and less in future years. State policymakers could adopt 100% full expensing, particularly since the state conforms to the Section 163(j) limit on interest expense and the two provisions were meant to work together.”
The foundation says business net operation loss treatment policies in the state “are less generous than the federal government and impose compliance costs due to lack of synchronization with the federal code and are uncompetitive with most other states.”
The National Taxpayers Union Foundation also says lawmakers “should at least be conscious of any retroactive provisions when selecting their date of fixed conformity.” North Carolina is among 21 states conforming to the federal income tax base “only as of a certain date” rather than automatically matching federal tax code changes – meaning definitions, calculations or rules.
The foundation said nationally the average filer will see taxes raised $2,955. It estimates an increase for 62% of Americans. The biggest average increases by state are in Massachusetts ($4,848), Washington ($4,567) and Wyoming ($4,493) and the lowest are in West Virginia ($1,423), Mississippi ($1,570) and Kentucky ($1,715).
Individual wages, nationally, are expected to go down 0.5%, reducing economic growth by 1.1% over 10 years.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Right
The content primarily reports on the potential impact of the expiration of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, relying heavily on analysis from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, which describes itself as a nonpartisan organization but is known to advocate for lower taxes and limited government intervention, positions typically aligned with center-right economic policies. The article uses neutral language in presenting facts and data and does not explicitly advocate for a particular political viewpoint; however, the emphasis on tax increases and business expensing challenges following the expiration suggests a subtle alignment with pro-tax-cut, business-friendly perspectives associated with center-right ideology. Thus, while the article largely reports rather than overtly promotes an ideological stance, the framing and source choice reflect a center-right leaning.
www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 21:25:00
(The Center Square) – Authorization of sports agents to sign North Carolina’s collegiate athletes for “name, image, and likeness” contracts used in product endorsements is in legislation approved Wednesday by a committee of the state Senate.
Authorize NIL Agency Contracts, known also as Senate Bill 229, is headed to the Rules Committee after gaining favor in the Judiciary Committee. It would likely next get a full floor vote.
Last year the NCAA approved NIL contracts for players.
Sen. Amy S. Galey, R-Alamance
NCLeg.gov
“Athletes can benefit from NIL by endorsing products, signing sponsorship deals, engaging in commercial opportunities and monetizing their social media presence, among other avenues,” the NCAA says on its website. “The NCAA fully supports these opportunities for student-athletes across all three divisions.”
SB229 spells out the information that the agent’s contract with the athlete must include, and requires a warning to the athlete that they could lose their eligibility if they do not notify the school’s athletic director within 72 hours of signing the contract.
“Consult with your institution of higher education prior to entering into any NIL contract,” the says the warning that would be required by the legislation. “Entering into an NIL contract that conflicts with state law or your institution’s policies may have negative consequences such as loss of athletic eligibility. You may cancel this NIL agency contract with 14 days after signing it.”
The legislation also exempts the NIL contracts from being disclosed under the state’s Open Records Act when public universities review them. The state’s two ACC members from the UNC System, Carolina and N.C. State, requested the exemption.
“They are concerned about disclosure of the student-athlete contracts when private universities don’t have to disclose the student-athlete contracts,” Sen. Amy Galey, R-Alamance, told the committee. “I feel very strongly that a state university should not be put at a disadvantage at recruitment or in program management because they have disclosure requirements through state law.”
Duke and Wake Forest are the other ACC members, each a private institution.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article primarily reports on the legislative development regarding NIL (name, image, and likeness) contracts for collegiate athletes in North Carolina. It presents facts about the bill, committee actions, and includes statements from a state senator without using loaded or emotionally charged language. The piece neutrally covers the issue by explaining both the bill’s purpose and the concerns it addresses, such as eligibility warnings and disclosure exemptions. Overall, the article maintains a factual and informative tone without advocating for or against the legislation, reflecting a centrist, unbiased approach.
