Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center is facing financial challenges and is set to lose its Medicare and Medicaid funding.
West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Rennova Health, which owns Jamestown Regional, said the transition to a new billing company caused the hospital's financial troubles.
Jamestown Regional "has sustained a significant decline in receipt of payments over recent months, caused in part by mistakes made at the facility during a transition to a new billing company in December 2018," Rennova said in a June 7 statement to the Independent Herald.
The company said the mistakes made during the billing company switch also caused other problems, including the decision by CMS to terminate the hospital's Medicare contract. On May 29, CMS announced the hospital will no longer receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements as of June 12 because it does not meet conditions of participation.
Rennova said the hospital would try to regain its Medicare and Medicaid funding. In the meantime, Rennova said 20 employees, or about 14 percent of the hospital's 140-member workforce, will be laid off.
"Every effort will be made to correct this matter in the immediate future but in the meantime, we have evaluated our cost structure in keeping with the current level of business. Unfortunately, our evaluation has determined that we need to make an adjustment in staffing levels at this time to protect the long-term sustainability of the hospital," Rennova said, according to the Independent Herald.
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