From Staff Reports

A federal judge on Feb. 21 denied a motion by HCA Healthcare and Mission Health to dismiss a lawsuit and, instead, will permit the lawsuit against the two parties — filed by four Western North Carolina cities and counties alleging predatory tactic by the defendants to monopolize the local healthcare market — to go forward.

The federal complaint was filed in June 2022 by the City of Brevard. Buncombe County and Madison County. The City of Asheville later joined the class-action complaint.

In September 2022, HCA asked the judge to dismiss the case, claiming the plaintiffs failed to state a claim. 

“That request was denied by Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger, who said he found HCA’s high market shares in areas like Brevard and Macon County have allowed HCA to raise prices over the past five years for routine and outpatient services at faster rates than those services statewide,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on Feb. 22.