MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Blount County Commissioner Misty Davis has sponsored a resolution to ask Mayor Ed Mitchell to negotiate with UT Medical Center to manage Blount Memorial Hospital, following controversy about the hospital.
The resolution has not passed the Blount County Commission. The Commission's next meeting is on March 22.
The organization that runs Blount Memorial Hospital is named "BMH, Inc.," and sent a cease and desist letter to UT Medical Center asking the hospital not to continue negotiating with Blount County.
Commissioner Davis said the disagreement between the leadership of Blount County and the leadership of Blount Memorial Hospital began when BMH, Inc. tried to sell a property in Alcoa.
BMH, Inc. planned to sell the property for $22 million and lease it back to continue operating its "Springbrook Clinic."
"It's just not a good financial decision to sell a building to turn around and re-lease it," said Commissioner Davis.
Blount County argues it owns the property, though BMH, Inc. said it believes no county funds were used to purchase that property. Blount Memorial CEO Dr. Harold Naramore said the hospital wanted to sell the Springbrook property to add cash to the hospital's budget.
Dr. Naramore said Blount Memorial lost nearly $40 million in Fiscal Year 2022 and wanted the cash to meet some of the hospital's debt obligations. He said the losses were mostly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and said the hospital is in a much better financial state now.
"I fully intend, next fiscal year, to have a black number for our budget," Dr. Naramore said. "I think it's very realistic that we can make it."
Both Davis and Naramore said if the other side continues operating the way it does, it could affect the people of Blount County.
"If Blount Memorial for some reason wasn't here, the impact to you would be remarkable," Dr. Naramore said.
"My biggest fear is because of running in the negative, constantly, there's got to be a stopping point," Davis said.
Blount Memorial Hospital commissioned a national polling company called "co/efficient" to study the disagreement between the leaders of Blount Memorial Hospital and Blount County.
The poll said 74% of people in Blount County think the hospital should make its own decisions "without interference from local politicians."