Mission Hospital RNs rally to demand HCA restore coverage to hundreds of employees who rely on MAHEC physicians for health care needs

Registered nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., will hold a rally on Thursday, May 8, to demand HCA restore Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) to their approved list of health providers, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) today.

Mission management did not notify nurses and other Mission staff about this major change in coverage, which now means MAHEC physicians are out of network. With the ongoing physician shortage in western North Carolina and very long wait times to establish a relationship with a doctor, this change leaves Mission RNs and staff without timely access to health care. Nurses only found out about this change from other nurses or when their coverage was denied. State law requires 45 days’ written notice before ending or changing group coverage. 

“I am outraged that Mission management did not notify us that care through MAHEC is no longer being covered,” said Hannah Drummond, RN and chief nurse representative. “I have been going to MAHEC providers for years. I was stunned to be denied coverage for an annual physical and immunization. This is unconscionable.”

Who: Registered nurses at Mission Hospital
What: Rally to demand HCA restore MAHEC coverage to Mission employees
When: Thursday, May 8, 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Where: Mission Hospital, 509 Biltmore Ave., Asheville, N.C., on the corner of Hospital Dr. and Biltmore Ave.

As one of the only in-network providers for many specialties, MAHEC is a critical health care provider for HCA employees at Mission Hospital, including being the hospital’s exclusive trauma provider and a provider for general surgery, OB/GYN services, and psychiatric care.

Previously covered care will now cost nurses hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Nurses are demanding that HCA immediately reinstate MAHEC coverage, be transparent about all health plan changes, and provide access to all care at Mission Hospital. RNs are also filing complaints with the North Carolina Department of Insurance about HCA violating the law.

In the meantime, nurses are scrambling to find new providers or going without care, including a nurse who must find a new provider 7 months into her pregnancy, an RN whose child can no longer get mental health treatment, and several other nurses who recently established care at MAHEC after months of searching for a primary care physician.

“It is unbelievable that the nurses who provide care for our community can no longer get care from MAHEC physicians,” said April Dozier, RN in the mother-baby unit at Mission. “The MAHEC doctors who work at Mission are now out of network for us. HCA must restore MAHEC coverage now.

NNOC represents more than 1,500 nurses at Mission Hospital.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.