Mission Hospital nurses to hold rally for improved patient care and health care access with Attorney General Josh Stein

Registered nurses at Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., will hold a rally on June 5 to highlight their contract campaign priorities to improve patient care and working conditions, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) today.

Nurses will be joined by North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who sued HCA in 2023 for violating its asset purchase agreement when the largest health system in the country acquired Mission Health in 2019. The lawsuit alleges that HCA is not providing the quality, consistent emergency and cancer care it committed to delivering. Since HCA took over Mission Hospital, nurses say staffing and working conditions have deteriorated. The RNs’ current contract will expire on July 2.

“As nurses, we’re patient advocates, whether that’s at the bedside or at the bargaining table, where we are fighting for what we need to improve patient care and working conditions for everyone in the Mission community,” said Hannah Drummond, RN in the emergency department at Mission Hospital. “Rather than sit idly by while HCA is profiting off our community’s pain and suffering, Attorney General Josh Stein listened to nurses, doctors, and patients about the harmful practices of the Healthcare Corporation of America and took action on behalf of the people of Western North Carolina. Josh Stein stood by us and today I am proud to announce that NNOC/NNU has endorsed Josh Stein to be the next governor of North Carolina.”

Who:  RNs at Mission Hospital Asheville and NC Attorney General Josh Stein

What:Rally for Improved Patient Care and Health Care Access

When:Wednesday, June 5, 8:00 a.m.

Where:Mission HCA, Asheville (at the corner of Biltmore and Hospital Drive)

On-the-ground contact: Brian Walsh, 828-318-9707

“It is important to see elected officials and nurses coming together to hold corporations accountable, especially when those corporations are responsible for the health and well-being of so many citizens,” said Mark Klein, RN on the vascular access team at Mission Hospital. “We, as Mission nurses, have filed hundreds of assignment despite objections forms (ADOs) documenting unsafe staffing and unsafe working conditions affecting patient care. We have also filed complaints with the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Division, Department of Labor, and the Department of Health and Human Services. When we voiced our concerns, Attorney General Stein took us seriously. We support Josh Stein for governor because he is a proven advocate for nurses and the people of Western North Carolina. We need checks and balances, not politicians who are chummy with a health care corporation with significant evidence of substandard care.”

“I am honored to be endorsed by National Nurses Organizing Committee. Our nurses work day and night providing North Carolinians the care they deserve, and they deserve our support,” said Josh Stein, North Carolina State Attorney General and Democratic candidate for governor of North Carolina. “From suing HCA to defend rural health care, to advocating for Medicaid expansion or defending the Affordable Care Act at the U.S. Supreme Court, I have worked to protect and expand access to quality, affordable health care for every North Carolinian, no matter where they live or how much money they earn. I look forward to continuing to work with NNU to fight for health care access and advocate for nurses.”

“As governor, I will work to increase access to affordable, quality health care for all North Carolinians by building on Medicaid expansion and getting drug and hospital costs under control,” said Stein. “I will also work to increase the number of health care providers in rural North Carolina, promote hospital price transparency, and strengthen our mental health, behavioral health, and drug treatment systems.”

Since his time as a state senator, Attorney General Josh Stein has advocated for Medicaid expansion. As Attorney General, he successfully defended the Affordable Care Act in the U.S. Supreme Court, making Medicaid expansion possible, protecting 4 million North Carolinians with pre-existing conditions, and keeping prescription drug costs down for more than 1 million seniors across the state. He is also working to improve hospital price transparency and to strengthen scrutiny of big hospital chains trying to gobble up small rural hospitals, raising prices, and reducing quality of care. In 2023, he sued HCA Mission for its failure to offer adequate emergency and oncology services to the people of Western North Carolina, including for their failure to uphold standard patient-to-nurse ratios.