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 ...

Heritage Glass to begin production by July By Jeff Keeling State and local officials made the announcement April 29: Local investors are purchasing and restarting the Blue Ridge glass plant that AGC North America mothballed in late 2012. The move by the newly formed “Heritage Glass Co.” could create 120 jobs by mid-summer and nearly 250 within five years. Ten private investors, the majority of them former A ...

By Scott Robertson Randy Ratliff runs a guide service called East Tennessee on the Fly. He guides trout fishing expeditions on the Watauga and South Holston Rivers and smallmouth bass fishing expeditions on the Holston River west of Church Hill. “I’ve built up my client base since I was guiding part-time,” he says. “I started guiding full-time in 2000.” Those clients range from businesses that bring teams o ...

By Jeff Keeling Medicare drives the train of hospital system finance, but Mountain States Health Alliance continues looking for innovative ways to control cost and create revenue streams outside the Medicare piece, CEO Alan Levine said. In last month’s issue, we relayed part of a conversation with Levine and Chief Financial Officer Marvin Eichorn about issues facing the hospital system. Discussion points in ...

By Jeff Keeling Bill Haslam’s unveiling of the “Tennessee Promise” proposal during his Feb. 3 State of the State address drew broad attention for its boldness, but it wasn’t a shock to Northeast State Community College President Dr. Janice Gilliam. “I was excited that it was as far-reaching as it was,” Gilliam said of the proposal to make community college tuition-free for Tennesseans coming directly out of ...

Business is very good at Eastman Chemical Co., CEO Mark Costa told a capacity crowd gathered March 5 at Meadowview Convention Center for Eastman’s annual Regional Leaders Breakfast. He warned against complacency, though, and exhorted the area’s political and business leaders to work at maintaining and enhancing the Tri-Cities’ quality of life so Eastman can continue to attract and retain top talent from aro ...

By Jeff Keeling Judging from a wide-ranging interview on just his 86th day on the job, Alan Levine doesn’t appear to have wasted any time in his first 90 days as CEO of Mountain States Health Alliance (MSHA). Then again, with hospital systems facing the twin challenges of declining admissions and reimbursement cuts as the full weight of healthcare reform bears down, Levine does not enjoy the luxury of a len ...

From Wellmont Health System GREENEVILLE – (May 9)A thorough strategic assessment and review of the nation’s changing healthcare environment has led Wellmont Health System and Adventist Health System to conclude ownership of Takoma Regional Hospital would best be placed with one organization. The two health systems have reached agreement to return Takoma Regional to AHS’ full ownership. Wellmont and AHS, whi ...