North Carolina Health News, May 2, 2024, HCA Pruned Staff At Mission Hospital, Reaped Soaring Profits, Academic Study Finds
Staff cuts have driven up patient-care profits at Mission Hospital in Asheville after HCA Healthcare acquired the facility, according to a draft report by Mark Hall, director of the health law and policy program at Wake Forest University.
The report tracked the hospital’s profits from 2011 to 2022 and compared its profit margin to 11 peer hospitals. HCA acquired then-nonprofit Mission Health System in 2019. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the hospital reported losses, according to Hall’s report.
But Mission Hospital rebounded and in 2022, it reported patient-care profits of almost $100 million – about 3.5 times its profits of the year before HCA’s purchase, the report said.
