Two sides "never stopped talking" after 2011 rift By Scott Robertson Photos by Scott Robertson Almost three years to the day after Mountain States Health Alliance and CIGNA announced they would no longer be doing business together, the two companies have reached agreement on a new deal that will once again allow Cigna customers to access Mountain States facilities and services at in-network rates. The three ...

Retail picture brightening along state line By Scott Robertson, Tammy Childress and Jeff Keeling The retail picture in Bristol continues to brighten. The Pinnacle retail development in Bristol, Tennessee now has signed lease agreements with DICK’S Sporting Goods and Bed, Bath and Beyond to become its first Power Shop tenants, joining anchor tenants Bass Pro Shops and Belk. Steve Johnson, The Pinnacle’s deve ...

"Emerging leaders series" kicks off in August By Jeff Keeling So your company has checked off all the right boxes. Supply chain management, purchasing management, lean principles – pick a road to more effective operations, and you've taken it. Not so fast, say the folks at the Graduate and Executive Education Program in the University of Tennessee's College of Business Administration. The people you're rely ...

By Jeff Keeling Manufacturer NN Inc. will keep its headquarters in Johnson City as it expands home office headcount to around 200, officials announced this morning. “To support our aggressive global growth plan, we must expand our corporate infrastructure with people, systems and brick and mortar,” NN CEO Rich Holder said while standing in front of the five-story 60,000-square-foot former SunTrust building ...

By Tammy Childress and Jeff Keeling A contractor preparing The Falls retail site has agreed to accept delayed payments as the City of Bristol, Va. works toward securing additional funds through revenue bonds, and the anchor tenant, Cabela’s, has accepted a lower incentive amount. Bristol’s Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and Economic Development Committee (EDC) met Friday morning in called session re ...

KINGSPORT – Wellmont Health System is about halfway through its strategic options analysis, a process that has yielded positive comments about the organization’s clinical quality and low cost structure. Earlier this year, Wellmont issued a request for proposals from organizations that might want to align in some fashion with the health system. Nine health systems submitted a proposal, but three of them are ...

RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF MAINTAINING LOCAL CONTROL OF HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS WHEREAS, this region is served by two exceptional healthcare systems, community owned, locally governed and committed to providing access to the highest quality care for our citizens; and WHEREAS, choices that would end community ownership and local control of our healthcare systems are being considered, with diminished access and qual ...

Chapter 11  Health Facilities and Resources Part 13  Hospital Cooperation ACT of 1993 Tenn. Code Ann. § 68-11-1303  (2014) 68-11-1303.  Cooperative agreements -- Certificate of public advantage.  (a) A hospital may negotiate and enter into cooperative agreements with other hospitals in the state, if the likely benefits resulting from the agreements outweigh any disadvantages attributable to a reduction in c ...

Eastman's wastewater treatment plant, at left, discharges into the South Fork Holston River. Power still not restored as of early Wednesday evening By Jeff Keeling Eastman Chemical Co.'s first plant-wide power outage since 1998 occurred Wednesday morning and resulted in no injuries, a complete production shutdown, a small methanol release into the air and the release of an as-yet-unknown volume of wastewate ...

First Tennessee Bank has boosted its state-leading market share with a new deal to purchase 13 branches and four remote ATMs from Bank of America in Tennessee. The banks expect the purchase of the branches, including those in Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol and Greeneville to close later this year, pending regulatory approval. The Memphis-based bank will add approximately $660 million of deposits. First Te ...