Mission Hospital located in Asheville, North Carolina is planning an outside audit of its workers' compensation program. The hospital reports that they periodically have audits, and this audit was scheduled before all the controversial with their workers' compensation department. They report that the hospital has outside audits every 12 to 18 months. They state the audit is to "review our claims management and benchmarks us against national standards."Mission Hospital has been penalized for workers' compensation cases by awarding attorney's fees to plaintiffs in at least 6 cases in the last 10 years. Benefits were denied to plaintiffs as well during this same time period.A duty commissioner for the North Carolina Industrial Commission (NCIC) ruled the hospital's denial of benefits were unreasonable and fraudulent.Other deputy commissioners and members of the NCIC sited that Mission Hospital "withheld evidence misled a deputy commissioner, denied benefits without basis or otherwise acted unreasonably in six other cases."The hospital denies these allegations and said "they place a high priority on staff safety and well-being."As the NCIC looks into Mission Hospital, Joe Damore, the hospital's president and CEO is stepping down from his positions in January. The board states that the audit and Mr. Damore stepping down in the new year are both coincidental.Please visit www.ncworkercomp.com to learn more.
