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A debt-ridden, rural Tennessee hospital that’s been shuttered since June 2019 received more than $121,000 in federal coronavirus relief funds, according to reports.
Jamestown Tn Medical Center Inc. received $121,722 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Provider Relief Fund, according to a list of hospitals around the country given federal COVID-19 aid published on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.
The 85-bed facility in Jamestown, Fentress County, about 80 miles northwest from Knoxville, was forced to shut its doors on June 13, 2019. A federal investigation found the hospital owed more than $4 million to 200 vendors as of May 30, 2019, WVLT reported.
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An undated Google Earth photo of Jamestown Regional Medical Center in Tenn.
Hospital owner Rennova Health, Inc. still owes more than $1.2 million in federal taxes, WBIR reported.
"It's not fair for them to direct money to a hospital that has currently no real ability to reopen and provide adequate and safe patient care," former Jamestown nurse Miah Elmore said.
A class-action lawsuit filed by employees alleged Rennova Health took Social Security and federal payroll taxes out of their paychecks but then withheld the funds from the federal government, WBIR reported. After filing their taxes last April, the employees claim that instead of receiving refund checks, the government sent letters stating there had been some sort of error.
"It's disgusting in a way," Karen Cooper, a former Jamestown nurse involved in the lawsuit, said. "There are hospitals and things that are seeing the COVID patients that could've utilized that money."
"It's another slap in the face and there's nothing we can do about it," Cooper said of the COVID-19 relief funds. "We just feel so frustrated."
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According to the CDC’s website, “The bipartisan CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act provided $175 billion in relief funds to hospitals and other health care providers on the front lines of the coronavirus response.”
Jamestown Medical Center was included in a “list of providers that received a payment from the General Distribution, High Impact Targeted Allocation and/or the Rural Targeted Allocation of the Provider Relief Fund and who have attested to receiving one or more payments and agreed to the Terms and Conditions as of May 13, 2020.”
In a statement to Fox News, Rennova Health spokesperson Seamus Lagan confirmed that the Jamestown TN Medical Center has received assistance from the HHS relief fund despite remaining closed.
He said there “are ongoing plans to reopen the hospital and there are employees retained as part of that plan” and the company will “endeavor to ensure the money has been used in accordance with the guidelines and terms of such relief.”
“We look forward to reopening this facility and while no plans are yet confirmed will consider reopening the ER as a first step if we can be certain we will get paid for the services we provide. That is something that is outside of the control of the Company,” he said.
Lagan called the lawsuit filed by former Jamestown employees “frivolous and filed in the belief that the Company somehow averted the WARN 60 days notice rules when the hospital closed in June 2019. This is absolutely not the case as there are clearly defined exceptions." He added that "had the Company been in a financial position to provide some extended payroll to employees at the time of closing it would have willingly done so.”
“While unfortunate that it took such a serious event, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of and financial pressures in the rural healthcare sector and will likely lead to a new appreciation and support to ensure these services remain and grow to meet the needs of an increasingly aging population in rural America,” the lengthy statement continued.
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“The decisive action by the government in the current circumstances in providing assistance has ensured the retention of many services and continued employment of healthcare individuals that would undoubtedly not have survived the current disruption.”
According to a May 15 SEC filing, Rennova Health reported its company-owned facilities have received approximately $7.4 million from the federal COVID-19 provider relief fund, as well as another $2.3 million in the form of payroll protection loans.
Rennova Health has IRS liens totaling more than $4.4 million against its other two hospitals in the region -- Big South Fork Medical Center in Oneida and the Jellico Community Hospital in Campbell County, WBIR reported, citing tax records.
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