Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center, which abruptly shut down in June, is currently barred from billing Medicare and Medicaid. If the hospital reopens, its billing privileges may not be reinstated, according to WBIR-TV.
CMS terminated its provider agreement with Jamestown Regional on June 12, and the 85-bed hospital shut down the next day.
In a June 7 statement to the Independent Herald, West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Rennova Health, which owns Jamestown Regional, said mistakes made during the transition to a new billing company in December 2018 led to financial challenges at the hospital. The company said mistakes made during the billing company switch also caused other problems, including the decision by CMS to terminate the hospital's Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Rennova said the hospital closure is only temporary and applied to restore Jamestown Regional's provider agreement with CMS. WBIR-TV reported Aug. 13 that CMS had denied the application, meaning the hospital's Medicare and Medicaid billing privliges would not be restored if it reopened. However, a CMS spokesperson later told WBIR-TV she "was provided some misinformation." The spokesperson told the TV station the hospital's application is pending and has not been approved or denied.
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Editor's note: This article was updated Aug. 16 at 1:00 p.m. CT to include the updated information from CMS.