Wellmont Health System

Programs: Wellmont health system prepares a consolidated community benefit report which includes the activities of all its operations and affiliates. In contrast, an irs form 990 is filed for each tax-exempt corporation (8 separate form 990s), and there is no such irs form for the taxable corporations. In addition, the irs instructions to form 990 have specific definitions, methods, and worksheets to calculate the community benefits to be included on the form 990. As a result, there are significant differences between the community benefits reported in the consolidated community benefit report and the various form 990s. There are also funds and services (con't on schedule 0) that are provided that do not meet the specific definitions of the irs instructions, such as contributions to organizations that do not meet the definition of "restricted to one or more of the activities described in the table in part i, line 7" of schedule h. Wellmont is a public trust. From kingsport to bristol, from sneedville to norton, the member hospitals of our organization were born of their communities' commitment to superior health care for their citizens. We offer a vast array of medical services and resources for thousands of patients in northeast tennessee and southwest virginia. In 2017, we provided services to 35,470 patients in a bed, 158,583 emergency room visits, 1,953 newborn deliveries and 20,960 surgeries. Wellmont is a tennessee not-for-profit corporation. Five tax-exempt, community-based hospitals - bristol regional medical center (bristol, tenn. ), holston valley medical center (kingsport, tenn. ), lonesome pine hospital (big stone gap, va. ), hancock county hospital (sneedville, tenn. ), and mountain view regional medical center (norton, va. )- are included in this corporation. But even as our service area spans multiple states, and our revenue is reported in the hundreds of millions of dollars, we remain a community- owned health system. It is our mission to deliver superior health care with compassion to the people we serve. It is our vision to deliver the best health care anywhere. Consistent with this mission, we have worked toward improving our community's access to quality, affordable health care, educating our region's caregivers, improving the health status of our communities and contributing to the overall quality of life in the areas we serve. Overall, we returned more than 45,156,423 in benefits to our region, including 34,921,084 of costs for indigent patients and uncompensated care for other patients and 10,235,339 for other community activities outlined below. Wellmont is in compliance with irs guidelines for form 990 schedule h reporting purposes and the amounts reflected above are not inclusive of resources described in wellmont's community benefit report as the above amounts are reported on schedule h. We are mindful of our responsibilities as one of the region's largest employers. 6,255 families count on us for their livelihoods. Cities and counties throughout our service area rely on us as a driver of economic development. It is our duty as a corporate citizen to support those endeavors and causes that improve the quality of life in our region. And we also recognize it is our responsibility to care for those in need - regardless of their ability to pay. It is our commitment - indeed, it is our mission - to support the causes and develop the initiatives that will propel our communities toward a better, brighter, healthier and more vibrant future. Serving the underserved regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or ability to pay, wellmont's hospitals treat all patients for medically necessary conditions. Recognizing that some patients cannot afford essential medical services, wellmont provided care for indigent patients, writing off 93,042,284 of charges and incurring cost of 17,960,835. Wellmont is in compliance with irs guidelines for form 990 schedule h reporting purposes and the amounts reflected above are not inclusive of resources described in wellmont's community benefit report as the above amounts are reported on schedule h. Other recent initiatives include: the wellmont health coach is part of wellmont's ongoing efforts to improve the health of our communities and encourage wellness in the mountains of northeast tennessee and southwest virginia. Funded by community support through the wellmont foundation, the coach offers a host of comprehensive screenings that help identify potential health problems. Our health system, in conjunction with a grant from susan g. Komen for the cure tri-cities, was able to fund the cost of mammograms for several hundred women who were underinsured or uninsured. Project access to breast care is designed to reach women who live in hawkins, sullivan, washington, johnson, unicoi, hancock, carter and greene counties in tennessee and women in scott county, va. To qualify, women must be between the ages of 35 and 49 and either be uninsured and financially unable to pay for a mammogram or insured and have a high deductible and/or co-pay that makes it financially difficult to obtain a mammogram. Bristol regional medical center provides supplies and other various items valued at 5,317 to healing hands health center in bristol, tenn. , which provides quality health care to the working poor. Dr. Dave arnold serves as the medical director of healing hands health center in bristol, tenn. And his salary and benefits are paid by healing hands health center. Training and educating our healthcare professionals wellmont will not succeed in our mission without continually reinvesting in our most precious resource - our people. To that end, we supported the education and training of health care professionals at a direct cost of 5,801,153. Recent initiatives include: wellmont provided and participated in several formal training programs for health professionals, including east tennessee state university's internship and residency programs. Our contributions totaled 1,081,140 in support of the school's james h. Quillen college of medicine residency program. Wellmont continues to welcome osteopathic medical students from lincoln memorial university's debusk college of osteopathic medicine. The students perform clinical rotations in wellmont hospitals as they move toward becoming the next generation of doctors. The students, who receive free housing on the campus of mountain view regional, complete their core clinical rotations at mountain view regional. The students perform sub- specialty rotations at holston valley and bristol regional and primary core rotations at hawkins county memorial. Free housing is available on the mountain view regional and holston valley campuses for our mountain region core site medical students. Our contributions totaled 271,431 in support of the debusk college of osteopathic medicine. Wellmont and lincoln memorial university's debusk college of osteopathic medicine also partner to provide the wellmont orthopedic residency program at holston valley medical center, one of just 41 such programs in the country to help train the next generation of specialty physicians. Our contributions totaled 490,461 in support of the lincoln memorial university's debusk college of osteopathic medicine orthopedic residency program. Wellmont continues to exert tremendous effort to achieve meaningful use of an electronic health record. This national mandate creates tremendous efficiencies for caregivers, enhances patient care and ultimately improves patient safety by reducing the potential for errors associated with paper documentation as well as increasing the security and sharing of data among providers. Wellmont completed the implementation of mywellmont, which is an online portal that allows wellmont patients to securely access their health information from virtually anywhere. Patients can electronically request appointments, view test results, renew prescriptions, pay bills and perform many other routine activities. Most importantly, patients and providers can connect in more ways than ever before, enhancing relationships and building a team-based approach to care. Wellmont has made available continuing education and training to employees, medical staff, members of affiliated health care organizations and schools and interested members of the public. Some of those opportunities included: -annual stroke symposium; open to wellmont physicians and staff and the community; -annual critical care and trauma conference; open to wellmont physicians and staff and the community; -annual cardiovascular summit; open to wellmont physicians and staff and the community; -annual women and children's expo, open to wellmont physicians and staff and the community; -annual diabetes expo, open to wellmont physicians and staff and the community; -regular education for clinical staff on topics including cpr programs, advanced cardiovascular life support, pediatric advanced life support, advanced trauma life support, heartcode t