New Mexico Attorney General launches investigation into Memorial Medical Center
Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced that his office was launching an investigation into Memorial Medical Center, which has been accused of refusing to treat indigent cancer patients, failing to screen patients for financial assistance and denying them medical care.
Editor’s note: This article will be updated with more information as it becomes available.
Memorial Medical Center confirmed on August 8 that CEO John Harris is stepping down from his position.
The medical center confirmed to the Sun News on August 8 that Harris would resign from his post at the end of August.
“We greatly appreciate John’s decades of service to Memorial and the Las Cruces community and wish him well in this next chapter,” Andrew Cummins wrote in an email to the Sun News.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Harris has been CEO of Memorial Medical Center since November 2013.
Cummins said Dennis Knox will serve as interim CEO starting next week as the recruitment process for the next executive begins.
More: New Mexico Attorney General launches investigation into Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces
The New Mexico Attorney General’s investigation into Memorial Medical Center is ongoing
In July, New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez launched an investigation into Memorial Medical Center’s medical practices.
Torrez said in a press conference in July that the medical center allegedly denied patients vital medical care.
More: MMC’s treatment of patients and staff should raise questions
The New Mexico Department of Justice led the investigation into the allegations against the for-profit hospital. The reasons for the investigation include allegations that the hospital refused to treat indigent cancer patients, failed to screen patients for financial assistance and denied them medical services. Torrez cited reports of denied treatment or requiring uninsured or Medicaid-eligible patients to pay the cost in full or up front.
When the investigation was announced, Harris denied the allegations to the Las Cruces City Council and the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners, with whom Memorial Medical Center has a 40-year lease on the building in which it operates.
More: City proposes $589.5 million budget for 2025
Since then, both government agencies have been demanding that the medical center be more transparent about its operations and billing processes, and the city of Las Cruces has been in talks about using the Telshor Fund to cover the cost of providing care to those in need.
Torrez said the institution was in “urgent need of reform and correction.”
Las Cruces Sun-News reporter Jason Groves contributed to this article.
