WAYNESVILLE — Haywood Regional Medical Center’s woes continued last week, as the hospital’s board chair resigned and a second private insurer suspended the hospital from its network.

Dr. Nancy Freeman submitted her resignation to the Haywood County Board of Commissioners last Friday after hearing a presentation by consultant Kate Fenner on what Fenner said were many failure on the part of the hospital’s board of directors.

Meanwhile, UnitedHealthcare announced that the hospital had agreed to be suspended from its network effective March 7, while signing an agreement with WestCare Health System.

WestCare operates Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva and Swain County and will now be able to provide health services to UnitedHealthcare members.

UnitedHealthcare decided to withdraw from the hospital following an on-site visit by a team March 4 and 5. The hospital had already agreeed to withdraw from Blue Cross Blue Shield on Feb. 29.

The moves come in the wake of a federal inspection that found serious problems with the ways medications were administered to patients at the hospital.

That inspection led to HRMC losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding, prompting a financial crisis for the facility.

The day after the hospital lost its federal funding, CEO David Rice resigned. The vice president over nursing also left soon after.

Patients with UnitedHealthcare who were already scheduled for procedures at HRMC will still be covered until March 19. The insurer will reassess the hospital’s inclusion in its network if and when federal funding is restored.

By voluntarily withdrawing from the insurance networks, HRMC will be eligible to immediately pick up coverage again if Medicare and Medicaid are restored.

In her presentation, Fenner of consultant Compass Group cited a “bunker mentality” in which reports of errors were carefully concealed by administrators who feared for their jobs if they were reported.
Fenner also reported the following:

• The hospital’s board members, who were appointed by county commissioners, did not have adequate training and Rice did not adequately help them understand how the hospital worked. Furthermore, Fenner reported, the board members failed to question Rice, who did not bring problems to their attention.

• Staff members who might have alerted board members to the problems were threatened with termination.

• The former chief of nursing committed to making needed changes after the state inspection in January, but did not follow through on that commitment.

• Managers and directors were ill-equipped to run their departments and had little oversight.

• The hospital’s chief medical officer was controlled by the CEO and failed to lead a program that would assure quality care for patients.

• Medical staff were actively discouraged from providing oversight.

• The hospital’s administration interfered with medical staff business.