Tennessee Receding

[neoplacebo]

There's quite a big backlash over Ballad Health's plan to eliminate two of the three Level 1 trauma facilities here in the Tri Cities. The plan is to only have a Level 1 facility in Johnson City, so Kingsport and Bristol lose out (those facilities will become Level 3). Where I sit, the existing Level 1 facility is about 3 miles away (Holston Valley, which has been here for more than 70 years or so ; I had a hernia operation there as an infant, and my daughter was born there in 83. Anyway, I don't see how this current plan aligns with the COPA Ballad filed to get approval to merge with some of these other facilities a couple of years ago. I guess a Certificate of Public Advantage depends on who you consider to be the "public." I think I saw John Q. Public just the other day.....he looked like he was pissed.

[Vrede too]

There's quite a big backlash over Ballad Health's plan to eliminate two of the three Level 1 trauma facilities here in the Tri Cities. The plan is to only have a Level 1 facility in Johnson City, so Kingsport and Bristol lose out (those facilities will become Level 3). Where I sit, the existing Level 1 facility is about 3 miles away (Holston Valley, which has been here for more than 70 years or so ; I had a hernia operation there as an infant, and my daughter was born there in 83. Anyway, I don't see how this current plan aligns with the COPA Ballad filed to get approval to merge with some of these other facilities a couple of years ago. I guess a Certificate of Public Advantage depends on who you consider to be the "public." I think I saw John Q. Public just the other day.....he looked like he was pissed.

I worked at a Level 2. Back then the only reason it wasn't a Level 1 was because it didn't have a neurosurgeon in-house 24/7. For most trauma patients, even neuro ones, this didn't matter.

[neoplacebo]

Thanks. I don't know the specifics about any of this but it has a lot of folks up here not liking it.

[O Really]

There are a lot of hospital changes/buyouts, yada all over in places we've been this year, and so far I haven't found any consumers who are happy about any of it.

[Vrede too]

In general, we have too many repetitious healthcare resources in a lot of places. This has been driven more by individual facilities' desire for revenue than about public need as determined by comparative healthcare outcomes. I have no idea to what degree if any this really applies to your local situation, but I'm sure that you've seen that it's been part of the debate.