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For years, HCA has cut services at their hospitals in San José, California. Cultivating a track record of slashing vital, but less profitable services.

In the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, HCA closed the maternity ward at Regional Medical Center—the only one in East San José—forcing many underinsured families to travel across town for care.

In late 2023, HCA announced it was going to close the trauma center at Regional Medical Center and cut back heart attack and stroke services. After months of community outcry, HCA slightly walked back this decision. HCA ended up divesting completely from the East San José community, selling the facility to Santa Clara County. 

Last year, HCA’s Good Samaritan Hospital closed its inpatient psychiatric facility, along with its neonatal services. The closure further exacerbated the area’s mental health crisis, leading to an 8% decrease in inpatient psychiatric beds. 

Sources:

San Jose hospital meeting ends without community benefits commitment

San José Leaders Approve $1.2 Billion Overhaul of Good Samaritan Hospital Despite Concerns

In February, a patient at HCA’s Mission Hospital died in an emergency department bathroom—a tragedy that local Asheville, NC advocates have linked to HCA’s ongoing understaffing at the hospital. 

An investigation by the Asheville Watchdog found that the emergency department was crowded and understaffed, with no rooms available when the patient arrived. 

“HCA has completely ignored our warnings,” said Ashley Bunting, a Mission ER nurse, speaking about the tragic death. “We have spoken out, we have called for action, and they have chosen to do nothing. And when nurses are ignored, patients suffer.”

This is not the first time HCA and Mission Hospital have been accused of unsafe conditions in their ER. In late 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services placed Mission in “immediate jeopardy” in part due to ER’s dangerous staffing levels and other deficiencies in care. 

Sources:

‘When nurses are ignored, patients suffer:’ Coalition demands HCA add staff after Mission ER death

Patient dies in Mission emergency department bathroom after call for help goes unanswered

A recent Wake Forest University paper found that HCA Healthcare’s 2019 acquisition of Mission Health did not lead to lasting improvements in Asheville’s once-lauded hospital system. Instead, the report concluded that the acquisition resulted in significant staffing shortages and a decline in the quality of care.

The study found two-thirds of Mission’s 750 physicians departed since the acquisition over concerns of care standards and HCA’s management practices. HCA’s management also slashed nurse staffing and the staffing levels of other health care workers. HCA also took its hatchet to specialties like urology, rheumatology, and neurology. 

These staffing shortages and cuts have led to canceled surgeries, delayed appointments, and increased safety incidents. Mission’s emergency department has been particularly impacted and is now the subject of multiple lawsuits.

Sources:

HCA pushed out providers, downgraded care after acquiring Mission Health: report

HCA’s purchase of Mission Health did not lead to lasting improvements, Wake Forest academic report concludes

Over 20 lawsuits have been filed against HCA after the private information of 11 million patients were posted on an online forum after a data breach. Patients’ names, cities, states, zip codes, email addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, genders and appointment information were made public. 

These filings have been consolidated into one class action lawsuit, where the patients allege HCA failed to adequately protect patient information, putting their privacy at risk. As HCA faces the fallout of the data breach, executives announced a deal with Google Cloud to bring Generative AI into HCA hospitals. The partnership is currently in four HCA ERs, where physicians have hands-free devices with a medical transcription app that records the patient visits. HCA is also currently testing a tool that automates handoff reports between nurses. While HCA claims this will provide more efficiency and better care, nurses have repeatedly called on healthcare executives to safely staff hospitals, and not use unchecked and unregulated technology.  

Plaintiffs file suit over data breach

HCA, Google roll out generative AI project