The slow—then rapid—decline of a rural Tennessee hospital
Summary
Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center is likely nearing closure after the CMS announced it will cut off payments to the hospital, which owes more than $4 million to hundreds of vendors and lacks critical supplies. 2001: Clarent reveals it faces a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging employees at the Fentress County General used inaccurate codes to obtain higher Medicare reimbursement. June 2018: CHS completes the sale of 85-bed Tennova Healthcare-Jamestownto Rennova Health, a money-losing lab test company struggling with declining reimbursement from commercial insurers. February 2019: The CMS gives the Jamestown hospital 90 days to fix deficiencies or have its Medicare billing privileges revoked. In a separate inspection, several employees said money withheld from their paychecks purportedly for Social Security was not deposited into the federal program.