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Ballad Health will transition patient bed management to a centralized location, facilitated by the Patient Flow Center team within the Clinical Command Center, effective Wednesday, Nov. 1. With this change, we will manage patient placement and bed availability in real time. NOTE: The go-live was initially scheduled for Oct. 17 but was rescheduled to Nov. 1. Our health system, like others nationwide, has been struggling with severe staffing shortages. To help ensure these challenges don’t affect the quality and safety of patient care, we have streamlined key processes to better manage them through a centralized, more efficient and uniform approach. This helps us manage bed supply to identify bottlenecks and act quickly to place patients in the most appropriate care setting based on their acuity and needs. It will ensure we make the best use of our resources, such as beds and staffing. This will give the health system a more direct line of sight…

In an effort to promote handwashing and following infection prevention protocols across Ballad Health, we’ll be hosting a game of “SPLAT” on three different days over the next three months. It’s a fun way to reinforce the lessons learned at recent hand hygiene review sessions. Who: The campaign is for all clinical team members at Ballad Health inpatient facilities and long-term care areas (but not outpatient clinics). When: SPLAT! days will be held on Oct. 31, Nov. 21 and Dec. 20. Prizes: Participants can win prizes, including Dollywood tickets, Barter Theatre tickets and the grand prize of an Apple Watch Series 8. How does it work? This kind of campaign has been used successfully at various health systems around the country and has been featured by the American Nurses Association, the American Journal of Infection Control and other organizations. Each clinical team member will be given three cards on the designated day. Throughout the work…

Agreement results from close bond between Ballad Health, Sycamore Shoals Hospital and city leaders ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. — An agreement between Ballad Health and the city of Elizabethton will lead to the reopening of the former Franklin Fitness Center as a community center, the new home to the city Parks and Recreation Department and will facilitate the next phase of a vision to develop the surrounding property into basketball courts and other recreational opportunities for the community. The agreement was reached following discussions early last summer between Ballad Health Chairman and CEO, Alan Levine, Sycamore Shoals Hospital CEO Dwayne Taylor, Elizabethton City Manager Daniel Estes and Councilman Richard Barker. Local business leader and Bank of Tennessee Chairman Bill Greene helped facilitate the developing project. As part of the agreement, the city will acquire the facility, located on the Sycamore Shoals Hospital campus, for $500,000 – significantly below the market value of $900,000, which Ballad Health recognized…

As part of an effort to standardize chemistry equipment across Ballad Health, the laboratories at Norton Community Hospital, Dickenson Community Hospital, Indian Path Community Hospital and the Regional Cancer Center at Indian Path are transitioning on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 8 a.m. to the Ortho Vitros 7600 platform. For facilities that send chemistry testing to these four hospital labs, PLEASE BE AWARE of expected delays in turnaround time for test results. The transition period is expected to last 6 to 8 weeks. The new instruments have been set up in a temporary location separate from the main labs. This means a challenging interim stage that will result in longer turnaround times. Every attempt will be made to minimize delays, but an increase is unavoidable. Who and what will be affected? Laboratory teams at the impacted facilities will stop running specimens on their current chemistry equipment at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19, and anticipate being back up…

We’re into football season now, and to celebrate, Ballad Health team members are now permitted to wear polo shirts with their favorite college, professional team branding on Fridays. Football Fridays will be in effect through the end of the week of the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, Jan. 8. Remember, team members still need to follow our dress code and personal appearance policy. Western-style jeans of any color, blue or other color denim pants, and jerseys will not be allowed during Football Fridays. Polo or other collared shirts need to be in good condition (free of wrinkles, stains, tears, frays and rips) and appropriately sized and fitted to the wearer. If you have questions about the dress code or personal appearance policy, consult our Ballad Health dress code policy (located on the intranet) or email Human Resources at HR4U@balladhealth.org.

As we approach the season when respiratory viral illnesses increase, we want to provide you with an update of what we are experiencing and how best to prepare for the months ahead. Our region, like the rest of the nation, is seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases. We are experiencing this in our Urgent Care clinics as well as in emergency rooms, and hospitalizations due to COVID are up. While this is nothing like the increases we had during the Delta and Omicron waves, it’s a definite uptick from what we were experiencing over the last few months, and it’s important that we’re aware of this increase and take the proper precautions. To provide context, during the summer, our infection prevention team would work, on average, 25 or fewer cases of COVID per day, with most of those being tested at our outpatient locations. Now we’re seeing 100-150 new cases per day, with an increase…

As we recognize Sepsis Awareness Month throughout September, we’ve put together a Q&A from Dr. Lauren Py, emergency room physician and system chair of Ballad Health’s sepsis committee. While it’s our clinical teams who deal with patients who develop sepsis, all Ballad Health team members should be aware of what sepsis is, why it is a critical issue and what part they can play to try to reduce the number of sepsis cases. Be sure to take a look at the info at the bottom of the Q&A, as well. Q: What is sepsis and why it is such a critical issue for Ballad Health? A: Sepsis is a medical emergency and the leading cause of death in hospitals. Sepsis and septic shock arise from the body’s overwhelming response to infection, which can lead to organ failure and even death. It is a critical issue not just for Ballad Health but for all of our community,…

To improve efficiency of patient flow and bed management across Ballad Health, we are transitioning to centralized bed management across the health system. Instead of bed assignments being managed at the facility level by multiple teams, these services will transition to a central team at the Ballad Health Clinical Command Center. This team is responsible for managing the availability and allocation of hospital beds across the entire health system. It will work closely with our teams in the hospitals and use information about acuity levels, bed availability and patient flow to ensure patients are placed in the right bed, at the right time, to support their medical needs. Along with this change, there will be a more robust dashboard and criteria for supporting patient throughput using Epic best practices and tools. Click here to view a list of frequently asked questions about the transition. This is a pivotal process, as one inefficiently handled case can…

Many Ballad Health team members may not be aware of a free educational resource available to them – the Ballad Health Medical Library located at Johnson City Medical Center. It is known to some as the Learning Resources Center (LRC). The library databases are freely available to all Ballad Health team members through the library’s site on the Ballad Health intranet. Team members are also able to make article requests through the library — a valuable resource for many of our clinical team. The medical library is also accessible to team members in-person during operating hours (Monday through Friday, 7:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). What resources are offered? The medical library collection includes over 2,000 items in a variety of genres, including medical and nursing books, leadership books, cultural diversity books and audiovisual materials. Team members can take advantage of the 300 individual journals available. Also available at the library: Access to numerous databases, eBooks…

We recognize sometimes people need help paying their bills, which is why Ballad Health offers financial assistance to qualifying patients who could use support during an emergency or scheduled medical care. In fact, nearly 50% of patients in the Appalachian Highlands qualify for financial assistance at Ballad Health. It’s important for our team member population to be aware of this, and to let any patients or potential patients know they may have options to help them with medical expenses. When paying for medical bills, knowing what assistance options people may qualify for can reduce financial stress. How do patients find out if they are eligible for financial assistance? There are several options, including: Letting our Patient Financial Services team know at registration that they’re interested in getting financial assistance Visiting our website and downloading the application for financial assistance, then filling it out and mailing it back to us Calling us at 888-288-5174 To learn…

More than 9,000 of our team members are using Ballad Teams, our mobile team member app. Have you downloaded it yet? Ballad Teams offers important system news, B-Well powered by Sharecare and easy access to an array of other useful resources like your pay statements, PTO balance, team member discounts, IT support and benefits, as well as a link to log into Smart Square scheduling. We continue to add new features. For any team members who downloaded Ballad Teams previously but have since lost the app – perhaps from updates to your phone, or you may have a new phone altogether – or if you’ve never had the app before, here’s how to get it. Installing or reinstalling the app To do so, follow this link for instructions. For iPhone/Apple devices, you will need a code to download the app. The code is provided by following the above link. NOTE: Only one code should be needed per Apple…