Ballad Health joins Bloomberg Philanthropies’ first-of-its-kind initiative that connects students to job opportunities with family-sustaining wages in 10 communities across the U.S. JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Ballad Health, several community colleges and career technical education (CTE) centers and five local school districts announced an unprecedented partnership that will launch a region-wide initiative in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia to create a regional program dedicated to accelerated pathways into healthcare careers. The innovative school-within-a-school approach, called Ballad Health Academy, addresses the unique rural nature of the Appalachian Highlands by providing access to accelerated education and training in a healthcare career, while maintaining the benefits of attending a child’s community school. The new program will incorporate in-person, virtual and in-hospital education and integrate healthcare career knowledge and job training with a high-quality, well-rounded high school experience for students throughout the Appalachian Highlands. Graduating students will have the opportunity to move directly into high-demand healthcare jobs with family-sustaining…

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Mary Breslin-Rodriguez, an established Ballad Health leader and former nurse with a wealth of experience promoting patient safety and quality of care, has been selected to serve as the health system’s chief quality officer. Breslin-Rodriguez will be responsible for formulating and executing strategies to drive world-class performance in critical areas of Ballad Health, including clinical effectiveness, patient safety, accreditation, data management, validation, clinical data intelligence, policy and procedure development, process management and medical staff quality. Furthermore, Breslin-Rodriguez will oversee the management of Certificate of Public Advantage (COPA) efforts related to quality and safety metrics, and she will be instrumental in developing the annual Quality Plan and ensuring compliance with external reporting requirements. “I am honored to lead the patient safety and quality efforts at Ballad Health in this critical role,” Breslin-Rodriguez said. “I am excited about this opportunity to contribute to the advancement of quality standards for the health system, and…

Ballad Health’s educational classes for Tuesday, Jan. 16, have been canceled due to inclement weather. An inclement weather message line – 423-431-1062 – has also been created to check the status of classes. A recorded message will alert callers if classes will be hosted as scheduled, or if the decision has been made to cancel based on weather concerns. NOTE: Exceptions to Ballad Health’s class cancellation policy are the systemwide classes and facility classes for new team member orientation, which will not be cancelled. More info The Organizational Development team can be contacted by emailing OrgDevEducation@balladhealth.org or calling 423-325-8484. Epic questions can be emailed to EpicTraining@balladhealth.org. Clinical Education can be contacted at 423-431-5444 or ClinicalEducationDept@balladhealth.org. You can also reach out to the contact person listed in the Learning Management System (HealthStream) for the course. The inclement weather cancellation policy includes Epic classes and all American Heart Association classes at any location (BLS, ACLS, PALS, etc.). REMINDER: It is important that…

Ballad Health is partnering with East Tennessee State University to give away 50 tickets to the ETSU women’s basketball game on Thursday, Feb. 1, against Furman, in support of breast cancer survivors. The Lady Bucs will tip off against Furman at 7 p.m. in Brooks Gym on the ETSU campus. This “Pink Game” ticket giveaway is open to both Ballad Health team members and the community. To enter, simply fill out the entry form here. Entry deadline is Wednesday, Jan. 24. Winners will be drawn randomly and then notified by email, and the tickets will be given away in pairs. Ballad Health will be orchestrating a pregame radio interview with a breast cancer survivor on the Buccaneer Sports Network, broadcast on WXSM The Sports Monster, and a breast cancer survivor will deliver the game ball prior to tipoff. There will also be a pink T-shirt giveaway as fans exit the game. Enter for your chance…

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Ballad Health is excited to announce that Bristol Regional Medical Center has installed three Omnicell XR2 Central Pharmacy Dispensing robots to support the operations of Ballad Health Pharmacy’s Central Fill Services – with the robots nicknamed Dolly, Johnny and June. They were unveiled in a special event at Bristol Regional on Thursday, Jan. 11. This groundbreaking robotic technology will be a huge benefit to our patients, as it will improve patient safety, reduce medication errors and improve efficiency of medication inventory management, as Bristol Regional serves as a central pharmacy filling location for all Ballad Health hospitals. It also aligns with our mission, as a High Reliability Organization, of a continuous pursuit of safety, using processes that help reduce risk. Bristol Regional was selected to receive the new Omnicell XR2 robots for a number of reasons, with a big one being its central location in the Appalachian Highlands and in the Ballad…

The 18th annual Cardiovascular Summit will be held Saturday, Feb. 17, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is organized by Ballad Health and Quillen College of Medicine’s Department of Continuing Education for Professionals. Local and national cardiovascular leaders will address the latest recommendations in the diagnosis, treatment and management of cardiovascular disease. Where is it being held? The conference will be a hybrid event, offering the option for both in-person and virtual learning. For those attending in person, the conference will be held at MeadowView Conference Resort and Convention Center, 1901 Meadowview Parkway, in Kingsport. It will be broadcast live from there to virtual attendees. Who should attend? Physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, medical residents, registered nurses and other health professionals will benefit from the summit. More information or to register See the flyer below, view the flyer in interactive PDF format here, or visit etsu.cloud-cme.com/default.aspx.

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Ballad Health Medical Associates has named Meridith OKeefe, a seasoned healthcare executive, as its new chief operating officer. Okeefe, who joined Ballad Health in September, brings more than 20 years of experience to her new role. As chief operating officer for Ballad Health Medical Associates, she will continue growing the medical group while optimizing its performance by meeting the needs of patients where they are. She will also play a pivotal role in carrying out Ballad Health’s mission to make high-quality healthcare accessible and affordable for everyone in the Appalachian Highlands. “As a professional, I’m very passionate about the sustainable delivery of regional healthcare – it’s important to me that everyone has access to the high-quality care they need and deserve, through traditional doctors’ appointments or through telemedicine,” OKeefe said. “On a personal level, I enjoy the culture of kindness in the Appalachian Highlands and am looking forward to plugging into…

W2 time is almost upon us, so it’s time to start preparing for them. You can help us ensure you get an accurate, timely W2 form from Ballad Health. Log onto Employee Space from the Ballad Health intranet main page (through HR & Payroll Service Center under “Quick Links”) and take a few minutes to do the following: Verify your Social Security Number. Making sure we have the correct Social Security Number ensures your wages are reported accurately. Verify your address. Making sure we have an accurate address ensures you get important information in a timely fashion. Your address in the system as of Jan. 10, 2024, is the address where your W2 will be mailed. Review your tax withholding. You may update your tax withholding via Employee Space at any time. Authorize EW2s. Authorizing your EW2 is a simple way to ensure you get your W2 as quickly as possible. Visit “Tax Forms” in…

Our fall/winter 2023 “SPLAT!” campaign has closed, and we have prize winners to announce! First, thanks to everyone who participated. Three SPLAT! days were held – one in October, one in November and one in December – in an effort to promote handwashing and infection prevention protocols across Ballad Health. Our clinical teams at Ballad Health inpatient facilities and long-term care areas (but not outpatient clinics) participated. What is SPLAT? 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. It was intended as a fun way to reinforce the lessons learned at recent hand hygiene review sessions, and is part of our continuous mission to deliver safe patient care and to be a zero-harm health system. Each clinical team member was given three cards on the designated day. Throughout the work…

Clinical Education, Organizational Development (OD) and Epic have an INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY FOR CLASSES (OD-100-007-BH). The policy was created out of concern for team members attempting to travel to classes when the roads are not in good condition. If you’re taking a Ballad Health class, here are the two key ways to find out if the class has been canceled due to bad weather: Team members will be notified of the decision to cancel educational classes via the Ballad Teams app on their phones, and at Balladhealthnews.org. In the event of bad weather, team members should check these two resources to receive the most up-to-date communication concerning schedule changes. An inclement weather message line (423-431-1062) has also been created to allow team members the ability to call to check status of altered scheduling of classes. A recorded message will alert callers if classes will be hosted as scheduled or if the decision has been made…

It’s W2 time! … Well, almost. Maybe it’s not exactly W2 time yet, but it is time to start preparing for them. You can help us ensure you get an accurate, timely W2 form from Ballad Health. Log onto Employee Space from the Ballad Health intranet main page and take a few minutes to do the following: Verify your Social Security Number. Making sure we have the correct Social Security Number ensures your wages are reported accurately. Verify your address. Making sure we have an accurate address ensures you get important information in a timely fashion. Your address in the system as of Jan. 10, 2024, is the address where your W2 will be mailed. Review your tax withholding. You may update your tax withholding via Employee Space at any time. Authorize EW2s. Authorizing your EW2 is a simple way to ensure you get your W2 as quickly as possible. Visit “Tax Forms” in Employee…