Ballad CEO responds to state: No babies have been 'lost' during NICU transfer

The CEO of Johnson City, Tenn.-based Ballad Health said the health system's move to consolidate the neonatal intensive care unit at one of its hospitals will not jeopardize patient care, according to the Johnson City Press.

Here are five things to know:

1. Ballad is proposing to consolidate the level 3 NICU at Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, Tenn., to a level 1 nursery. The medical center's NICU currently has an operating loss of roughly $1.5 million a year, which represents about 10 percent of the hospital's total annual net operating loss. It also is not operating at capacity.

2. A major point of contention around the consolidation is the fear that babies could die during transport to a higher level NICU, according to the report. However, Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine said the system and its predecessors, Kingsport-based Wellmont Health System and Johnson City-based Mountain States Health Alliance, have never "lost" a baby during transport to another NICU, according to a Dec. 28 letter obtained by the Johnson City Press.

3. The letter, sent by Mr. Levine to the Tennessee Department of Health, aims to answer the state's questions about the downgrade. Ballad Health first submitted a request to make the change on Nov. 12. In a Dec. 13 response, Department of Health Commissioner John Dreyzehner, MD, said the state required more information on 14 specifics of the planned consolidation, including a project timeline and how Ballad will manage high-risk pregnancies in a non-NICU facility.

4. Ballad said about 100 babies would be transported to nearby Niswonger Children's Hospital in Johnson City each year, and that "all Ballad hospitals except HVMC currently offer transport of newborns to Niswonger if the infant is determined to need NICU services after birth. The proposed plan will simply add HVMC to the other nine Ballad hospitals that offer transport of mothers and/or babies to Niswonger if a level of care higher than Level I Nursery is needed," according to Mr. Levine's letter.

5. Dr. Dreyzehner said in his letter to Ballad that once the state receives all the necessary information to process the request, a 90-day approval period will begin, according to the report.  

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