AdventHealth has blasted Mission Hospital’s request for the North Carolina Supreme Court to reconsider a lower court’s decision to award it 67 hospital beds, saying in an Aug. 1 court filing that the HCA Healthcare-owned facility’s claims are not “even remotely appropriate for review.”

The Florida-based company argued that there is no need for the court to review a lower court’s decision to grant it the acute care beds for a planned hospital in Weaverville that would serve Buncombe, Madison, Yancey and Graham counties. AdventHealth has broken ground on a 30-acre site just west of I-26. 

“[I]t appears that Mission understands that it is utterly futile to challenge findings of fact and conclusions of law that are supported by the record, especially where those findings and conclusions were found to be correct by the Court of Appeals,” AdventHealth said in its argument. “While a case may exist that warrants such an exercise, it most certainly is not this one.” 

In its motion, Mission had argued that it was a victim of “substantial prejudice” during the application process and that during that time, a state agency incorrectly changed a policy previously requiring new hospitals to have a general operating room. AdventHealth did not propose a general operating room in its original application, according to Mission’s motion. 

“[N]either issue raised by Mission is even remotely appropriate for review, and none of the factors set forth in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-31(c) warrant the Court exercising its discretion to review the decision of the Court of Appeals,” AdventHealth said in its filing.

The Supreme Court granted, without comment, Mission’s request for a stay July 25.

Mission did not respond to a request for comment about AdventHealth’s filing. 

“The information in our response is thorough and we do not have any additional comments at this time,” AdventHealth spokesperson Victoria Dunkle said when asked for comment on the latest filing. On Monday, the company announced a series of public listening sessions in Buncombe, Graham, Madison and Yancey counties. 

For three years, AdventHealth and Mission have been locked in a legal battle over the 67 beds. AdventHealth won them in late 2022 through the North Carolina Certificate of Need process, a requirement that medical facilities seek the state’s permission when they want to expand, add services, or buy expensive equipment. 

Mission disputed the decision, but in June, a three-court panel of the state’s appellate court ruled in AdventHealth’s favor, a decision some saw as concluding  the battle.

Mission’s two arguments

Part of Mission’s argument about “substantial prejudice” hinges on its contention that eight employees didn’t get an opportunity to testify at a public hearing in 2022, which it blamed on an error by NCDHHS’s Division of Health Services Regulation. The DHSR is a defendant in the state Supreme Court case.

In its response, AdventHealth said DHSR made the correct decision and that delving into the intricacies behind substantial prejudice law shouldn’t be a priority for the Supreme Court because it wasn’t a priority for the appellate court. 

“[A]s there was no Agency error, any effort in this case to address the issue of substantial prejudice would have the Court delving into abstract or theoretical matters not appropriately the subject of appellate review,” the response stated.

Mission’s attorneys also argued that the NCDHHS had changed a policy previously requiring new hospitals to have a general operating room and that AdventHealth’s proposal for the beds lacked that service. According to AdventHealth’s current proposed plans, the Weaverville hospital would have “A state-of-the-art Surgery Suite for general and specialty.” NCDHHS is also a defendant in the case.

In its filing, AdventHealth contended the agency wasn’t responsible to tell Mission it changed anything and that Mission never identified a policy “from which the Agency departed.” 

There is no deadline for a state Supreme Court decision.

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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 reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.

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