“There’s real fear among nonprofit organizations that not supporting the current iteration of the board could mean retaliation in the form of being cut from the $1.5 billion that DHT will control once the sale is final,” wrote Asheville-Buncombe NAACP President Carmen Ramos-Kennedy. “In order to truly build trust, citizens and organizations must feel free to speak their hearts and minds without fear.”
City and county government give details of schedule changes surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, while Mission Health releases its 2017 annual report.
The Buncombe County Board of Commissioners will vote on a new pay plan during its meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 20. The body will also consider a set of policies that would increase oversight of county contracts and purchases.
Since the inception of a new adaptive exercise program for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities in October, a core group of about six athletes with a variety of abilities and challenges have made “incredible” progress, reports Karla Furnari of Buncombe County Recreation Services. The program meets on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. at South Slope CrossFit and is free to attend.
A new youth culinary training program pairs teens with top local chefs for training that culminates with a cooking competition.
“To me, the biggest question of all is: What is our leverage to make sure this private corporation fulfills its contract?”
In a Sept. 25 open letter, ten local organizations called on the Dogwood Health Trust, which would come into existence to receive the proceeds of the proposed sale of Mission Health to for-profit Healthcare Corporation of America, to ensure proportional representation of women and nonwhites on its board. The signatories also called for all geographic areas served by the trust to be represented.
Earlier this summer, Kenilworth residents followed up on a complaint first sent to the city of Asheville in September 2017. They allege that changes Mission has made to address their noise concerns haven’t eliminated the problem — and that the health system wasn’t acting in good faith when it entered into discussions with the community.
Interim County Manager George Wood said in a Sept. 11 memo to commissioners that, taking into account increases in automatic employee raises, a projected bump in health insurance claims and the potential for larger funding requests from local school systems, the county could see an approximately $1.7 million deficit in FY 2020.
Learn more about B-corps, a local business awards program, local movers and shakers and data on Asheville’s economic indicators in our business news in brief from the issue of Sept. 12, 2018.
“As the Dogwood Health Trust forms its board, I urge its founding members to address the underlying determinants of our failing health by investing in a local food system with soil-building at its core.”
At the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 13th annual Elected Officials Reception on Aug. 16, local politicians acknowledged that the intensity of recent city and county government scandals have sometimes pushed other issues to the side.
Are you a fan of health and wellness advice? If so, you may want to check out Dr. Gus Vickery’s new book, which shares his prescription for attaining and maintaining health. We’ve got the details, along with a roundup of other local health news, in this edition of Health Briefs from our issue of Aug. 1, 2018.
HCA’s purchase price for the system, plus Mission’s remaining net cash and investments, would fund a nonprofit foundation specifically devoted to boosting public health in the region. At a meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners, President and CEO Ron Paulus claimed that the new organization’s assets, which could range from $1 billion to $2 billion depending on the final sale price, would make it one of the three largest foundations in North Carolina and the richest foundation per capita anywhere on the planet.
Mission Health President and CEO Dr. Ron Paulus sees system expansion through mergers as a nearly inevitable survival tactic in the current healthcare environment. “There are many leaders — not me, but Mayo Clinic and others — that believe within 25 years, there will be maybe four or five health systems in the U.S.,” he said.
ASHEVILLE, NC
“So, in the end, in addition to soaring medical costs, patients would pick up the tab for repairing potholes, street repaving and whatever else the city councils and county commissions think we just can’t do without.”
With the potential of tax revenues from the proposed acquisition of Mission Health by a for-profit company looming on the horizon, members of City Council’s Finance Committee heard several proposals on March 29 that would help balance the city’s FY 2018-19 budget.
Urgent care centers are a hot health care trend nationwide and in Western North Carolina. With the recent arrival of new urgent care facilities and more in the works, Xpress looks at where these facilities are and what needs they serve.
A town hall meeting on Jan. 30 at A-B Tech sought to describe the scope of the opioid epidemic. In 2016, 17 million painkillers were prescribed in Buncombe County, which amounts to about 68 pills for every person in the county.
The contract dispute between Blue Cross Blue Shield and Mission Health put many locals in an awkward position: risk out-of-network rates at Mission or find a more Blue Cross-friendly alternative.
