Ballad Health

Ballad health (bh) is an integrated community health improvement organization serving 29 counties of the appalachian highlands in northeast tennessee, southwest virginia, northwest north carolina and southeast kentucky. our system of 21 hospitals, including a dedicated children's hospital, post-acute care and behavioral health services, and a large multi-specialty group physician practice works closely with an active independent medical community and community stakeholders to improve the health and well-being of more than 1 million people. by leading in the adoption of value-based payments, addressing health-related social needs, funding clinical and health systems research and committing to long-term investments in strong children and families in our region, ballad health is striving to become a national model for rural health and healthcare. ballad health is a tax-exempt entity and the parent corporation of both mountain states health alliance (msha) and wellmont health system (whs). the two healthcare systems came together on february 1, 2018 as a result of a merger approved by both tennessee and virginia departments of health. ballad health operates under a certificate of public advantage (copa) in tennessee and a cooperative agreement (ca) in virginia. pursuant to the copa and ca, msha and whs are required to fulfill the obligations, commitments and covenants set forth in the copa. such obligations include that ballad health shall meet, over the ten-year period beginning july 1, 2018, established minimum spending criteria on initiatives for expanded access to healthcare services, health research and graduate medical education, population health improvement, and a region-wide health information exchange. the full text of the copa can be found on the tennessee department of health's website, while the ca can be found on the virginia department of health's website.form 990 for msha includes seven wholly-owned hospitals including a children's hospital and a behavioral health hospital; four others, majority owned by msha, each file a separate return. form 990 for whs includes five wholly-owned hospitals; two others, also wholly-owned, each file a separate return. 2019 novel coronavirus (covid-19) public health emergency:the united states secretary of health and human services declared a public health emergency (phe) on january 31, 2020 due to confirmed cases of the 2019 novel coronavirus (covid-19). on march 10, 2020 ballad health executed its disaster plan in response to the covid-19 pandemic. this included the activation of its corporate emergency operations command (ceoc) to coordinate efforts across the system and around the region to rapidly plan for, and execute, ongoing response to the issues resulting from the covid-19 pandemic. the policy establishing the ceoc is established and authorized by the board of directors, and follows guidelines established by the federal emergency management agency (fema) and the cdc. ceoc is led by an incident commander appointed by the chief executive officer in this instance the chief operating officer. the ceoc is composed of key leaders overseeing essential functions of the health system, including logistics, supply chain, communications, operations, finance, government relations and clinical services. the ceoc acts as the clearinghouse for all organizational planning and decision-making related to the event, and continues its responsibilities under the oversight of, and until discontinued by, the chief executive officer. the chief executive officer, who also serves as chair of the board of directors, keeps the board of directors apprised of issues on an ongoing basis and ensures compliance with the board's delegations of authority pursuant to ballad health's policies.during fiscal year 2021, ceoc continued to manage activities related to the phe which included frequent communications to internal parties, news media, and the public. these communications included providing data related