ASHEVILLE - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has sent a letter that it has officially removed the immediate jeopardy citation at Mission Hospital, the hospital's CEO Greg Lowe said in an email provided to the Citizen Times on Nov. 24. It means the hospital has yet again avoided Medicare termination.

It was the second time in two years that the hospital had been placed in immediate jeopardy — the most serious type of deficiency the federal health agency can assign. Since the hospital's $1.5 billion purchase by HCA Healthcare in 2019, nurses have unionized, citing understaffing and poor workplace treatment, which some have said contributed to patient deaths and lag in treatment. The hospital has been placed in immediate jeopardy three times — with citations in 2021, 2024 and

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