BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — Editor’s Note: This story has been updated after an earlier version failed to attribute and credit The Daily Times in Maryville in a paragraph regarding the selection of Blount Memorial Hospital’s interim CEO. You can read more from The Daily Times at this link.
The leader of Blount County's only hospital is resigning from his role as CEO effective Jan. 1.
A spokesperson confirmed Tuesday that Harold Naramore was resigning from the position at Blount Memorial Hospital, after starting as CEO in June 2022.
Jonathan Smith, BMH’s chief financial officer, was tapped by the board to serve as interim CEO, according to Mariah Franklin, a reporter with The Daily Times in Maryville. Smith’s LinkedIn profile shows he has served as BMH’s CFO for more than 10 years. According to The Daily Times report, Smith accepted the interim CEO position and asked the board to consider assigning Brian Hollomon as the hospital’s interim CFO. Hollomon has worked at BMH for more than 20 years as a financial controller, according to his LinkedIn page.
Blount Memorial Hospital's Board of Directors is scheduled to meet again on Dec. 12.
During the 2022 CEO selection process, the hospital received a letter from Blount County leaders expressing concern about how they were choosing a new leader.
Clint Abbott, the mayor of Alcoa, signed the letter along with Ed Mitchell, the mayor of Blount County. Andy White, the mayor of Maryville, also signed the letter. It said that they felt the process of choosing a new CEO did not strictly follow state law and hospital policies.
Following that letter, the hospital and the county commission became embroiled in a clash over ownership of assets and property.
Blount Memorial Hospital, Inc., the nonprofit company created by the Blount County Commission in 1945 to run the hospital, sued Blount County after Mayor Ed Mitchell tried to stop the sale of a property in Alcoa. The county argued that BMH assets are effectively owned by the county, and the hospital couldn't sell them without approval.
Naramore said the hospital tried to sell the property to make up for financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2023, Naramore said the hospital lost nearly $40 million during the previous fiscal year.
The argument eventually spiraled into the court system and onto the desks of state lawmakers.
Later in December 2022, BMH filed a lawsuit that asked for a ruling to allow BMH to proceed with plans to sell a facility in the Springbrook area for around $22.2 million. It was opened in 1996 and provided outpatient care, as well as other healthcare services, according to a press release from the hospital. According to the lawsuit, the sale was meant to "relieve its current financial strain."
In March 2023, the Blount County Commission approved talks between Mitchell and the University of Tennessee Medical Center about the future of the hospital. Talks about a merger between Blount Memorial Physicians Group and Covenant Health then started in April 2023. Blount Memorial Physicians Group is a for-profit corporation, created in 2002, according to their state business record.
In May 2023, Governor Bill Lee signed a bill into law that allows the Blount County Commission to change the management of the hospital. The county commission requested the law after controversy surrounding the sale of the Springbrook facility and the hospital's board members.
It amends a 1945 law, known as the Private Acts, which gave Blount County the authority to create a hospital. The act gave the Blount County Commission the authority to turn over operation and maintenance to a non-profit corporation.
The latest amendment to the Private Acts of 1945 says, "Any non-profit corporation selected to serve as the manager of the hospital should not be deemed the owner of any assets of the hospital."
BMH later filed another lawsuit against the county and the state, asking the court to say the amendment violates the Fifth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In October 2023, Naramore asked the Blount County Commission to approve a separate debt waiver plan to avoid the bank calling the hospital's bonds, leading to BMH's closure.
Blount County Commissioner Misty Davis, an outspoken critic of the hospital's administration, previously said in an email to 10News that she would not vote to approve the plan for the waiver so long as Naramore was still CEO of the hospital. Commissioners also passed a resolution allowing for an audit of the hospital's finances.
Editor's Note: This story was corrected after erroneously stating a Blount County nominating committee chose potential CEO candidates. The nominating committee proposes potential members to Blount Memorial Hospital's Board of Directors, which are then approved by members of the local government who appoint them. The committee does not have a hand in directly selecting a CEO -- the BMH Board of Directors decides that.