As a member of the soon-to-be Ballad Health team, your input is wanted! As we begin Ballad Health, it’s important we establish a set of core values that will define us as an organization. These are the things that are most important to you as a healthcare worker and a Ballad Health team member. Our core values are the foundation of our culture. When our policies and training programs are grounded in our core values, our team members understand why we do what we do, and sharing those values helps us make ethical decisions. Our values should guide the way we recruit, orient, train and evaluate ourselves. To do this, we need the input of all our team members. We want our values to motivate each of us to help create a meaningful, dynamic, connected culture. We have created an online survey on the home page of Ballad Health News, on the right side, so you…

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. and KINGSPORT , Tenn. – Eleven regional leaders with expertise in business, healthcare, education and community development have been selected to serve on the inaugural Ballad Health board of directors when the new health system officially launches in early 2018. The members were approved unanimously by the boards of directors of Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System this week.  The members were chosen using best practices for selection of health system boards, based on needed competencies for the governing body, including experience in the areas of governance, administration, business and strategy. Eight are Tennessee residents and three are Virginia residents, and the group includes two physicians. The board will officially assume its role with fiduciary responsibility for Ballad Health when the merger closes in early 2018, while the boards of Wellmont and Mountain States will continue governing each individual system until the closing. During this interim period, the board members-elect…

With the approval of the proposed merger between Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System, we are now moving into the transition for execution of the merger.  This transition period is important, as there are both tasks and planning that must occur in order for the transaction to be closed successfully. We expect the merger to close by early 2018.  There is much to be done, and therefore, we must organize ourselves with an eye toward becoming one system. The transition will not have any effect on the current operations of either health system.  Rather, the transition period is focused solely on getting us to closing, and preparing us for operations after closing. One of the major steps we are focused on is assembling what will be the board of directors of Ballad Health.  The boards of Wellmont and Mountain States are actively engaged in this process, and we expect to make an announcement…

To our Senior Leaders who have gotten us to this point: With all the work that has been done on behalf of our respective organizations and the community, I want to first take a moment to say thank you.  The effort each of you has invested for us to be at this point is monumental, and everyone has played an important role.  Honestly, few people could possibly comprehend the amount of dedication, thought, intellect, conflict and serious lift that went into all you and our boards did. Now that we are at the point where we have received approval, it is time to move toward execution. Before moving forward, there are a couple of thoughts I have.  First, it should not be lost on each of us that we have been given a rare opportunity to dedicate ourselves and our focus to a broader mission of improving the health of our communities.  We have to…