Ballad Health, an Appalachian company with the nation’s largest state-sanctioned hospital monopoly, may soon be required to improve its quality of care or face the possibility of being broken up. This story also ran on . It can be .
Government documents obtained by KFF Health News reveal that Tennessee officials, in closed-door negotiations, are attempting to hold the monopoly more accountable after years of complaints and protests from patients and their families. Ballad, a 20-hospital system in northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia, was created six years ago through monopoly agreements negotiated with both states. Since then, Ballad has , according to annual reports released by the Tennessee Department of Health.
Despite these failures, Tennessee has given “A” grades and annual stamps of approval to Ballad that allow the monopoly to continue. This has occurred, at least in part, because Ballad is graded against a scoring rubric that . Subscribe to KFF Health News' free Morning Briefing.
Now that may change. In an ongoing renegotiation of Tennessee’s monopoly agreement, the state health department has pushed for an eightfold increase in the importance of hospital performance, making it “the most heavily weighted” issue on which Ballad would be judged, according to state documents obtained through a public records request. The negotiations appear to be the state’s most substantial response to residents who .
Dani Cook, a community organizer who has le.