The Chambers of Commerce of Kingsport, Bristol and Johnson City/Jonesborough/Washington County endorse the proposed merger of Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance to an integrated single system.  We believe this offers the best opportunity for the betterment of our region’s healthcare. Each Chamber board met with the individual health systems while Wellmont was pursuing three alternati ...

By Jeff Keeling When he spoke at the Wellmont Health System-Mountain States Health Alliance merger announcement April 2, Dr. Jeff Farrow was effusive in his praise of the proposed deal’s benefits for physicians.  Farrow, a pulmonologist and Mountain States board member, said a combined system could, “help us attract the best and brightest physicians to our region.” He added that a goal for the combined syst ...

This month's Business Journal, which should reach subscribers in print early next week, hits a number of high points, starting with Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam's last-dollar coverage plan for adults attending Tennessee colleges of applied technology. We also ask physicians about the proposed hospital system merger, report some good news on Bristol Compressors and report on consultants' recommendations that m ...

By Jeff Keeling Bell Helicopter is in the throes of what its CEO mentioned in January would be “another difficult year,” and the company announced Tuesday it plans to shed around 1,100 workers worldwide, with the possibility of some layoffs at its Piney Flats facility. Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell employs about 500 people in Piney Flats. The company plans to get as many eligible workers as possible to take ...

BRISTOL, Va. – Bristol Compressors International, Inc., a leading global producer of compressors for use in air conditioning, heat pump and refrigeration systems, is planning to add 110 full-time jobs this spring. The company will first move 50 seasonal workers into permanent positions. Another 60 jobs will be added by the end of April, bringing the number of full-time positions to 738 at the Bristol site. ...

This month's Business Journal, which should reach subscribers in print early next week, covers in great depth the April 2 announcement that Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance plan to merge. While you wait for your hard copies, we encourage you to flip through a virtual issue by clicking here: April 2015 Business Journal.   ...

 Full format Business Journal now online   Readers can now flip through our full magazine, page by page, with the latest addition to our website. Click the cover photo at left to begin reading, or click here: March 2015. In addition to articles on multi-family and commercial real estate development, this month's issue features a story on a new craft brewery opening in Johnson City, a piece on moves tow ...

By Jeff Keeling A new company started by industry veterans will manufacture healthy snack foods in Kingsport, bringing an estimated 273 jobs to the area, officials announced today. Pure Foods will operate out of a building near the intersection of Interstates 26 and 81 in the Gateway Commerce Park, and invest $22 million in the operation’s initial phase. Sullivan County’s economic development agency, NETWOR ...

  By Jeff Keeling The Tennessee Medical Association (TMA) supports increased access to medical care for Tennesseans, its president, Kingsport gastroenterologist Dr. Doug Springer, told the Business Journal Jan. 23. That fact, though, didn’t keep the state’s largest professional organization for physicians from initially balking at endorsing Gov. Bill Haslam’s now-dead plan to extend Medicaid (TennCare) ...

  It has been short and very sharp, so crude oil’s plummeting price has had little time to impact industries that rely indirectly on the stuff. But surprised as they may have been by the pace and duration of the decline, many analysts now predict a protracted period of cheap oil. The World Bank’s latest forecast predicts years of prices well below the $100-plus per barrel levels that persisted for more ...