JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Ballad Health Employee Assistance Program is relocating its Johnson City office to 525 N. State of Franklin, Suite 9, right behind Ballad Health Pharmacy. The office will move to the new location Sept. 25 and be operational on Sept. 28. The EAP’s Johnson City office is currently located on Princeton Road. The program also has locations in Abingdon and Kingsport. What services does EAP provide? The EAP provides team members and their families with confidential mental health and substance abuse services through Ballad Health counseling services, covering issues such as stress, depression and grief; marital or divorce counseling; ADHD/ADD testing; bipolar disorder; and many others. Team members receive six free counseling and/or medication management visits per plan year. (Additional visits require $25 copay.) Counseling can be done in-person, through a video remote session, or by phone. All contact with EAP representatives is strictly confidential. You are eligible for coverage under…

ABINGDON, Va. – Ballad Health’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) has expanded its services to include an office in Abingdon in order to better serve Southwest Virginia team members. The office, located at the Primary Care Center of Abingdon, 613 Campus Drive, Suite 200, will begin serving team members on Sept. 1. To schedule an appointment, call the main EAP number at 423-302-3480. The EAP also has offices in Johnson City and Kingsport. The EAP provides team members and their families with confidential mental health and substance abuse services through Ballad Health counseling services, covering issues such as stress, depression and grief; marital or divorce counseling; ADHD/ADD testing; bipolar disorder; and many others. Team members receive six free counseling and/or medication management visits per plan year. (Additional visits require $25 copay.) Counseling can be done in-person, through a video remote session, or by phone. All contact with EAP representatives is strictly confidential. You are eligible for…

Our Ballad Health Employee Assistance Program has expanded and enhanced its services to better serve team members. The EAP offers confidential counseling for stress, depression, substance abuse, marital counseling and other mental health issues: Same-day appointments for therapy Extended hours: Monday-Friday from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. For your added convenience, we’re now offering telehealth and phone sessions to better support all our team members, including those in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. New EAP location at Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport Did you know? As a benefit-eligible team member of Ballad Health, you receive six covered (free) visits per plan year. These include visits with our MD/psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioners and therapists. Contact information For more information about the Employee Assistance Program, call 423-302-3480 or visit the EAP site on the Ballad Health intranet here. For anyone undergoing an emergency, call the Respond Crisis Hotline at 800-366-1132. Our care team Here’s our care team of therapists…

Dear Ballad Health team member, It’s that time of year – open enrollment for Ballad Health benefits will run from Friday, May 22, to Friday, June 5. This year, if you do not need or want to make any changes to your current benefit elections, you will not need to complete the online open enrollment process; however, the annual enrollment period is a good time to review your current benefits package, make any changes and review your beneficiary information. Because open enrollment is not required this year, if you don’t need to make any changes to your benefits – you will maintain your same benefit elections for the new benefit plan year, which begins July 1. As a reminder, to continue enrollment in the Flexible Spending Medical or Dependent Care accounts, you must go online and make a new election. Log into the HR & Payroll Service Center on the Ballad Health intranet to review your…

Our first Ballad Health annual performance evaluation period is complete, having ended Nov. 30, and all annual increases (if applicable) will go into effect this month. Increases in pay rate will be processed this pay period (Jan. 5, 2020) and be reflected on the Jan. 24 paycheck. Keep in mind that the amount of increase will differ based on when you received your last full increase (see chart below). NOTE: Increases will not load into the system until Jan. 17. After Jan. 17, you’ll be able to view your new rate of pay by logging into HR & Payroll Service Center on the Ballad Health intranet using your network log-in and password. If you have questions, contact HR4U at HR4U@balladhealth.org or at 423-431-HR4U (4748). If you received an increase in this month: In January 2020 you will receive this: January 2019 2.00% February 2019 1.83% March 2019 1.66% April 2019 1.50% May 2019 1.33% June…

Ballad Health’s matching contributions to your retirement plan have been deposited! To reserve a meeting with your Lincoln Financial retirement consultant, visit LincolnFinancial.com/balladschedule.

Dear colleague, As the calendar changed from June 30 to July 1, it also signaled the end of Ballad Health’s fiscal year. During this past year, we have successfully implemented the integration of many work processes, policies and multiple systems. While integration is always a bit of a challenge, the end goal is to provide services and support that are efficient, accessible and value-added for each of us as team members. At this time, I would like to take a moment to share an update with you of our work plan for the coming year – again, the goal being to create seamless and accessible services for each of us. First, I am pleased to announce that our board of directors has approved a 2% annual wage increase (if applicable). In an environment where we face declining inpatient utilization and increased competition in the outpatient services market, our ongoing expense management, productivity gains and efficiencies…

Dear Ballad Health team member, It’s that time of year – annual benefit open enrollment for all benefit-eligible Ballad Health team members! This is a great opportunity to review your current benefits, make changes, learn about new benefit offerings and update your beneficiary information. Open enrollment is underway and runs through May 29. Even if you do not need to make changes to your benefits, some benefits require an election. You can enroll by logging into the HR & Payroll Service Center. Click here for enrollment instructions and the detailed benefit guide. Click here link to start the enrollment process. Details about the FY20 benefits package: Medical/Wellness Program – We will continue to offer two high-deductible health plans through BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee – the Ballad Health Choice plan and the Ballad Health Bronze plan. While there will be a slight increase, team members’ cost share of the premiums remain significantly below market. The lowest…

Ballad Health is a health improvement organization, and we’re starting with ourselves. We want our team members (and their families) to lead healthy, active lives, so we’re encouraging team members to participate in our wellness program, available for those who chose the Ballad Health Choice Plan as their health insurance. Most of you know about the significant discounts on your insurance premiums if you complete the wellness program, but the program is about more than that. It’s intended to help you maintain your health, or where needed, provide programs and services to help you address specific health risks that have been identified. Here are some important details and updates:   If you haven’t done your screening, there’s still time There’s still time to do your health screening. There are three makeup dates left in August: Wednesday, Aug. 8 – Lonesome Pine Hospital, classroom, 2-8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11 – Indian Path Medical Center, conference center,…

This is a message from Debbie Dover, our Ballad Health SVP, talent engagement and chief HR officer Dear Colleague: As the calendar changed to July 1, it also signaled the start of fiscal year 2019 – our first full fiscal year together as Ballad Health. I would like to give you an update on a few issues I hope will be helpful to you. First, I’m pleased to announce that the Ballad Health board of directors has approved a 2% annual pay increase for team members in FY19. Given the significant reimbursement challenges and declining inpatient utilization rates for hospitals, this increase is being made possible due to improved productivity and reductions in team member turnover. As in past years, your increase will be applied at the time of your annual performance evaluation. Also during fiscal year 2019, you can expect to see a few other beneficial changes: To support your career development, you can…

July 1 marks the beginning of the new fiscal year and the effective date of the new Ballad Health benefits. Benefits selected during open enrollment this past May begin on this date.  Any benefit-eligible team members who did not complete the online open enrollment will only have EAP, basic life insurance, basic AD&D, and long-term disability option 1. These are the benefits paid by Ballad Health. No premiums will be deducted from your paycheck. MEDICAL – The Ballad Health Choice and Ballad Health Bronze plans begin on 7/1/18 and all deductibles and out-of-pocket accumulators start over. BlueCross BlueShield of TN mailed new cards to all subscribers. Those with individual coverage will receive one (1) card with their name on it. Those covering dependents will receive two (2) cards but each card will only have the subscriber’s name. The covered dependents are listed on the card holder. For additional cards, you may call BCBST at 800-565-9140….