ASHEVILLE – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has placed HCA Healthcare-owned Mission Hospital in “immediate jeopardy,” according to an Oct. 17 letter Mission Hospital CEO Greg Lowe wrote to staff obtained by the Citizen Times, and first reported by Asheville Watchdog.

The move follows the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services' immediate jeopardy recommendation it sent to federal regulators earlier this month. It’s the second time in two years CMS has placed Mission Hospital in immediate jeopardy, the most serious deficiency regulators can assign, which can result in the loss of Medicare and Medicaid payments to a hospital.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CMS, told the Citizen Times on Oct. 21 that the ag

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