Mission Hospital is the regional medical referral center for the western quarter of North Carolina and parts of several adjoining states.

In this section, both the news media and general public can access important information about what's happening at Mission.

Please note that the Breaking News page is available only to members of the news media. If you are in the media and do not have access to this page (which is used only during breaking news situations), please contact us.

2007 Marks Another Year of Success and Growth for Mission Hospitals!

Recognized among the nation¹s best for quality care

 In 2007, Mission continued to receive accolades from a wide variety of national organizations for quality of care:

* U.S. News & World Report named Mission one of the Top 50 Hospitals in endocrinology services. Mission was previously honored by the magazine for heart and orthopedic care.

* The American Diabetes Association awarded Mission¹s Diabetes Self-Management Program with National Education Recognition, signifying that Mission¹s program adheres to national standards for diabetes patient education.

* The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) designated Mission a top performer in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) and pneumonia. For this achievement, Mission earned a $230,000 quality incentive payment under the Premier demonstration project.

* Blue Ridge Regional Hospital (formerly Spruce Pine Community Hospital) was named to Thomson¹s list of Performance Improvement Leaders for 2006 in the small hospital category.

* Mission once again received the Consumer Choice Award from the National Research Corporation, an honor that is based on how consumers in our region rate Mission.

* The Joint Commission certified Mission as a primary stroke center, achieving a key goal of our Neurosciences Clinical Service Line. Mission was also recognized at the International Stroke Conference as one of a few hospitals in the southeastern U.S. that has achieved 85% compliance with each of the seven performance indicators established by the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association.

* The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) gave Mission's cardiovascular surgery program its highest rating (three stars) - an achievement reached by only 15% of hospitals with open heart surgery programs.

* Mission and Blue Ridge were named Five Star Hospitals in the State of the Hospital Industry 2007 by Cleverly & Associates. The ranking looks at hospital financial and operational management.

* Six Mission nurses were recognized as part of the Great 100 Nurses in North Carolina. That brings Mission¹s total number of Great 100 recognized nurses to 135 since 1990.

* Mission¹s Reuter Children¹s Outpatient Center received the Silver Medal for Interior Design from the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Interior Design.

Bringing innovative technology, treatments and services to the region

* With Mission¹s active involvement and leadership, the Western North Carolina Health Network¹s DataLink project linked 15 of the 16 hospitals in WNC electronically, a move that will help improve patient care and safety by ensuring prompt access to patients¹ medical records when they access care at any of the linked hospitals.

* Mission was granted a Certificate of Need from the state for an additional cardiac catherization laboratory.

* A new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit was implemented by the Neurosciences team that will enhance the diagnosis of patients with epilepsy in WNC. The unit provides extensive monitoring to determine the type of seizure a patient is experiencing, so that the best treatment can be determined.

* Mission was the lead hospital in Western North Carolina for a statewide effort to improve emergency care for heart attack patients. The initiative, called RACE (Reperfusion of Acute Myocardial Infarction in North Carolina Emergency Departments) is a collaborative effort to bring hospital and paramedic professionals together to improve protocols for promptly treating heart attack victims. The initial results showed a significant drop in heart attack deaths and complications since the RACE initiative began.

* The Health Education and Legal Support (HEALS) program, which provides legal counsel to patients on issues that impact their health and well-being, received coverage in the national magazines Hospitals and Health Networks and AHA News. Mission partners with Pisgah Legal Services to provide this innovative service.

* The Asheville Project developed by Mission and the City of Asheville continued to receive national media attention in 2007. The model diabetes management program garnered coverage from NBC, CNBC, the New York Times, and Pharmacy Times magazine.

* The Mission Sports Medicine Program was expanded to The McDowell Hospital.

* Thirty-eight nurses completed the special Geriatric Resource Nurse and Geriatric Trained Provider Program.

Demonstrating sound stewardship to fulfill our mission

* In fiscal year 2007, Mission Health & Hospitals as a system provided $28.3 million in care for uninsured and under-insured patients.

Mission Health as a system also provided $73.1 million in community benefit and services. This includes estimated costs of treating charity care patients, unreimbursed costs for treating Medicare and Medicaid patients, unreimbursed medical education and research costs, and other shared community benefits.

* Mission successfully sold $260 million in bonds to finance ongoing facility improvements in the health system, a reflection that Mission¹s financial health is viewed favorably by the investment community.

* All three national bond rating agencies gave Mission an AA rating, placing us in the top 10 percent of the country.

* As a result of skilled management and responsible stewardship of resources, Mission successfully met our 2007 financial targets.

We also met our targets established under the state Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA), which ensures that our costs are in line with our peer hospitals.

* Collaborative discussions were initiated between Mission and Pardee Hospital, leading to an agreement to study the feasibility of jointly developing an outpatient services center.

* Mission¹s management team was enhanced in 2007 with the addition of:

     Brian Aston, chief operating officer

     Charles Ayscue, chief financial officer

     Ed Hannon, chief executive officer of The McDowell Hospital

     Rhonda Miller, vice president of revenue cycle management

     Elizabeth Maiorana, vice president of heart services

     Frank Ford, vice president of physician services

     Dr. James Keel, chief medical information officer and medical director of quality

* The Strategic 2020 Vision was revised to reflect our goal to become a regional diversified health system providing superior care and service to patients and their families through research, education and a full continuum of integrated services.

Working together to improve community health

* Mission implemented the "WNC Know Your Numbers" campaign to educate consumers in our market about the importance of understanding their blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and Body Mass Index (BMI) levels.

* Mission welcomed four recipients of our Keisha Young Scholarship as summer interns. Each year, up to 50 of these $1,000 scholarships are awarded to minority students studying healthcare and hospital careers.

* Nineteen students from Asheville High School participated in the inaugural Mission Possible Program, a new collaboration with the city school system to promote healthcare careers. The students had an opportunity to learn about medical careers first hand from Mission staff.

* In 2007, Mission began working with local farmers to host a Farmer¹s Market on the hospital campus - part of our efforts to encourage our staff to eat healthy and support our local economy.

* More than $520,000 was pledged by Mission employees in the 2007 United Way Campaign.

* During 2007, 659 volunteers from our community gave a total of 96,948 hours of service to Mission - the equivalent of more than 46 full-time employees.

* MAHEC and Mission co-sponsored the live broadcast of the 13th Annual Public Health Research Video Conference from UNC-Chapel Hill. The theme of the broadcast was "Does Racism Make Us Sick?"

* The annual Prostate Cancer Screening drew 156 men - double the number seen in 2006. The screening identified 14 men as needing follow-up care.

* Mission was selected by the Western North Carolina Regional Air Quality Agency as a recipient of the "Standing Ovation" award for efforts to protect and improve air quality in WNC.

Foundation channels a community's generosity to fill needs

* In 2007, the Mission Healthcare Foundation brought in over $8.2 million in new gifts, grants and pledges, and gave Mission Hospitals $7.8 million for programs and projects.

* Together with the Mission Belles Nursing Alumni Committee, the Foundation officially established the Mission Belles Nursing Alumni Endowment. Distributions from this endowment will be used to help provide scholarship monies to senior nursing students in Western North Carolina.

* The Mission Aviators Club was created as a  vehicle to raise awareness of and support for the Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) unit.

* The Gold Medal Endowment for Mission Children¹s Hospital was increased by nearly $600,000.

* Mission participated in both state and national efforts as a Charter Member of "Together for Kids," a new national not-for-profit fundraising alliance of children¹s hospitals. On the local level, the Foundation partnered with area businesses to generate immediate income for Mission Children¹s Hospital as part of this effort, netting $38,000.

* The Foundation received on behalf of the Mountain Area Trauma Regional Advisory Committee (MATRAC) the first mobile field hospital in the nation and over $700,000 in disaster preparedness grant money.

* The Foundation held an inaugural women-only "In Good Company Golf Classic" to support the Mission Breast Program.

* The 17th annual Chakales Memorial Golf Tournament raised $100,000 for the Mission Cancer Program.

* A $500,000 grant was secured from the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation to help expand the Olson Huff Center for Child Development to support children with autism and related disorders.

* A $166,000 grant was awarded from the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust to support breast screening and education programs for underserved women.

* Mission received two grants totaling $2.27 million that will support the implementation of the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) System.

The Department of Defense approved a $1.27 million grant to the Foundation from the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advance Technology Research Center (TATRC) for information technology, and a federal appropriation of $1,000,000 was approved to support development of Mission¹s integrated Clinical information system and CPOE. North Carolina¹s two U.S. Senators and Congressman Heath Shuler were instrumental in helping Mission win these grants.

Gearing our facilities and systems for tomorrow¹s needs

* Spruce Pine Community Hospital officially changed its name to Blue Ridge Regional Hospital, a name that better reflects the broader geographic area served by the hospital. The hospital¹s $22.6 million expansion and renovation project opened in December 2007.

* We celebrated the placement of the final steel beam in the construction of Mission¹s new surgical and ICU tower. This is part of the Dogwood Project, which will provide updated and expanded facilities to meet the growing needs of our region. The six-level building will house surgical facilities, patient rooms and a neuro-trauma intensive care unit.

It is expected to be completed by 2009.

* The McDowell Hospital completed the renovation and expansion of its Emergency Department, providing additional capacity to serve the community.

* A newly renovated Interfaith Chapel opened on the Memorial Campus, designed to provide a place of peace, renewal, comfort and healing to patients, families and visitors.

*  A new Mountain Area Medical Airlift (MAMA) helicopter arrived, purchased by Mission through a $1.9 million federal grant. The new chopper has greater speed, range and capacity at lower operating costs. Also in 2007, MAMA celebrated its 20th anniversary of safe emergency transport for patients in the region.

* This past year saw continued progress on implementation of the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system, which is a cornerstone of our move toward electronic medical records and a key to improving patient safety and efficient delivery of care.

* Mission purchased three zero-emission electric cars to help our Security staff patrol the campus and parking decks in an environmentally friendly way.

* MissionOnDemand (MOD), a new intranet site was launched in September 2007 to enhance internal communications, followed quickly by a new consumer internet site in November. Initial response to both has been extremely positive.