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Cites Ballad Health’s management during the pandemic, measurably better population health and a compelling decrease in preventable hospitalizations JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) released its Fiscal Year 2021 Certificate of Public Advantage Department Annual Report, determining “that the Ballad Health COPA continues to provide a Public Advantage” to the citizens of Tennessee.  Each year since the creation of Ballad Health, the State of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia have independently confirmed the public advantage created by the unification of the hospitals in a rural region.  Prior to the merger, one hospital in the region had closed, and several were facing financial insolvency.  For instance, in Greeneville, Tennessee, one previously independent hospital’s debt was called by the bank, while the other hospital had been “put” by each of its partner owners – meaning, neither party wanted to keep the hospital. Since the merger, and during 2021, Ballad Health opened a…

Ballad Health’s Organizational Development Department is offering some excellent classes for all team members. The following classes are scheduled the next few weeks – three of them virtual: Emotional Intelligence, Aug. 10-11 – Virtual via Microsoft Teams Communicating for Success, Aug. 17-18 – Virtual via Microsoft Teams Civility in the Workplace, Aug. 24-25 – Virtual via Microsoft Teams How to be a Terrible Team Member – Offered in person on Sept. 7 at Norton Community Hospital, and on Sept. 21 at Bristol Regional Medical Center Resources Registration is available by logging into HealthStream. For more information, visit the OD site on the intranet here, or email orgdeveducation@balladhealth.org. To view the Ballad Health Organizational Development class catalog, click here. NOTE: The Organizational Development site and class catalog are located on the Ballad Health intranet, so you must be on a Ballad Health network device to access.

KINGSPORT, Tenn. – Every year, Ballad Health is honored to sponsor Kingsport Fun Fest’s long-standing tradition – the Hot Air Balloon Rally. This event takes place on the final day of Fun Fest, when hundreds of community members and visitors gather, as the sun rises, to watch colorful balloons fill the sky. We held a giveaway drawing for team members to win a free balloon ride during the rally, and two winners were able to each take a guest up into the wild blue yonder: Chastina Bennett, certified nursing assistant at Lee County Community Hospital Cathy Galyean, medical technologist at Norton Community Hospital Another neat, yet often overlooked, aspect of this event is that the balloons may end up landing anywhere in the city. The Ballad Health/Marsh balloon, nicknamed Rosie, touched down at Indian Path Community Hospital’s helicopter pad! Congratulations to the winners! And this community-wide event reminds us that, regardless of where the wind…

As we work to strengthen our nursing workforce, Ballad Health is looking for some of our experienced nurses to join our Nurse Mentorship Program and serve as mentors for our nurse residents. The program promotes professional development for our new nurses, which benefits all our clinical teams by improving nursing skills, satisfaction and retention – and it ultimately helps improve patient outcomes. There is no substitute for experience, but this sharing of wisdom is the best substitute as our new nurses develop. Becoming a Nurse Mentor is a chance to invest in the future of nursing. Serving as a Nurse Mentor is voluntary and not a paid duty, but it does provide an opportunity for financial incentive through the PACE program. What does a Nurse Mentor do? The Nurse Mentor will be assigned a mentee (new nurse) and will set up the agenda for the initial meeting. The mentor will communicate on a consistent basis,…

As part of our effort to strengthen our nursing workforce, Ballad Health is implementing a Nurse Ambassador Program, where some of our current nurses can return to their alma mater and talk about the opportunities and benefits of working at Ballad Health. Nurses who join the program can earn a $1,500 bonus for each new nurse they recruit! Key details about the program The schools we are targeting are just outside Ballad Health’s geographic footprint, between two and four hours’ driving distance from Johnson City, Tennessee. Eligible nurses can apply by emailing Academic Recruitment Liaison Amanda Blevins at Amanda.Blevins@balladhealth.org. The email should include your name, position, work location, phone number, alma mater and direct supervisor’s name and title. Nurses must be licensed and in good standing and have their nurse manager’s verbal recommendation, which will be obtained by the human resources department. Traveling nurses are not eligible for the Nurse Ambassador Program. Participants will be…

NOTE: This message was emailed to all Ballad Health team members from Eric Deaton, chief operating officer for Ballad Health, on June 28, 2022. As always, it is important to say thank you to each of you for your relentless dedication to our mission, and to our patients. The unprecedented national labor shortage is affecting the entire health care industry, and we know it is being felt throughout Ballad Health. We continue to make extraordinary efforts to reduce the impact of the shortage, but we are not naïve.  We know you each see the impact of it daily. Over the past year, we have reached out to nurses and leaders throughout Ballad Health, in each of our hospitals, as we have sought new ideas based on your experiences. I’m pleased to share with you that among the many good ideas we have heard, and are implementing, is the creation of a new internal nursing agency to help…

PENNINGTON GAP, Va. – The against-all-odds success story of Lee County Community Hospital – one of the only rural hospitals in the nation to reopen after closing nearly a decade ago – has reached its first anniversary, marking the occasion with several significant milestones. See a photo gallery at the bottom of this article from Thursday’s first-anniversary celebration held at the hospital. Lee County Community Hospital is a 10-bed modern medical facility, specifically designed to meet the needs of its community. Since reopening, it has met those expectations and more, impacting thousands of people’s lives in just its first year of operations. “We listened to what our community really wanted and needed from their local hospital, then we created the new facility in the image of that,” said Mitch Kennedy, administrator of Lee County Community Hospital. “We’re working every day to provide an access point for the people of Southwest Virginia and Southeast Kentucky to…

As you may know, we recently rolled out Everbridge for emergency team member notifications. Everbridge is an international leader in emergency communications and is used in multiple industries, including healthcare, to coordinate notifications during emergent events. This is the system that Ballad Health uses to communicate critical information during events such as a pandemic, natural disasters, manmade disasters, power outages or workplace violence. Starting this month, the Everbridge team will be running monthly tests of communication channels. If you are signed up for alerts, you will receive an announcement by email, as well as by text or by phone call if you have opted in for notifications through those methods. These emails will come from Ballad Health Emergency Alerts, at noreply@everbridge.net. How do I sign up for facility updates? If you are not registered for emergency updates for your facility, you can click the link in the test email to update your account settings. If…

Ballad Health is changing the process for how clinical team members do their competencies, moving away from TEDS and paper and transitioning to HealthStream. This will allow for streamlined completion and recordkeeping. Historically, Ballad Health has used several methods for completing clinical competencies, and leaders have been responsible for knowing the process for their area. This change will move all clinical team members to a single, more standardized approach for competency management. We will make the transition in stages, with the first group – all new nursing team members who work on a med/surg, PCU or ICU – making the change effective Sunday, July 3, for their initial competency validation. These competencies are now validated using a competency checklist assessment in HealthStream. More details will be announced as we prepare other groups of our clinical team members for the transition to the new HealthStream format. Competencies As a refresher, competencies are the ability to integrate…