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VIDEO: Mayor Pete Comes to Nashville

Recently Mayor Pete Buttigieg brought his hopeful message here to Tennessee, and told us “there’s no such thing as a permanently red state”.

Here’s some VIDEO. We encourage ALL candidates to come pay us a visit!

ETHICS COMPLAINT Says D.A. Northcott Wouldn’t Prosecute Asst. Police Chief’s Brother for Domestic Assault

Coffee County resident Cindy Lowe this week filed a complaint with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility against District Attorney Craig Northcott for an “Ethics Violation” in connection with an alleged domestic assault incident that took place in 2015, in which she believes Northcott neglected to prosecute her abuser because Joseph Floied was the brother of Manchester Assistant Chief of Police Adam Floied, and proceeded to maliciously pursue charges against her because she wouldn’t stop seeking justice.

This comes on the heels of over 300 Tennessee lawyers filing a complaint of their own seeking to have Northcott’s license suspended due to the statements The Holler surfaced back in June that clearly show he does not believe domestic violence laws should be used to protect people in same-sex relationships despite the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling.

Northcott has been in the spotlight lately as the special prosecutor handling the case of civil rights activist Justin Jones, who is charged with assault for an incident with soon to be ex-speaker Glen Casada.

We recently outed Northcott’s open Islamophobia and homophobia, and his refusal to obey the supreme court’s marriage equality ruling, both of which which contributed to the decision by Jones to file a motion to have Northcott removed from the case.

That motion is still pending.

We’ve also reported on Northcott’s curious decision not have the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation look into whether or not Casada’s office falsified evidence to have Jones thrown in jail – even though the TBI has offered to do so, and Casada’s chief of staff has emailed Northcott encouraging him to do so as well.

Both Northcott’s unwillingness to respect the Supreme Court’s authority with regard to marriage equality and his refusal to call in the TBI speak to Northcott’s clear belief that District Attorneys are all-powerful and answer to virtually nobody. Northcott has even said as much in the past, where he told an audience:

“DAs have what’s called prosecutorial discretion. Y’all need to know who your DA is. Y’all give us a lot of authority whether you know it or not, we can choose to prosecute anything. We can choose not to prosecute anything, up to and including murder. It’s our choice, unfettered.”

The incident with Cindy Lowe may be yet another example. The complaint says the following:

“On May 24, 2015, Deputies from the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to the residence of Cindy Lowe to perform a welfare check. Upon arrival the Deputies encountered Cindy Lowe and Joseph Floied in an apprehensive state. Deputies immediately noticed obvious injuries to Ms. Lowe. These injuries included blood on her face, bruising to her arm, and an unequivocal bite mark to her right arm. Due to the obvious and abundant injuries to Ms. Lowe, the Deputies encouraged Ms. Lowe to press charges against Mr. Floied.”

It goes on to say that Mr. Floied then told the deputies he was the brother of Manchester Police Department Assistant Chief Adam Floied, at which point they made a “courtesy call” to Adam, who came and picked his brother up and took him away without arrest.

Ms. Lowe says she “aggressively pursued justice with the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney Craig Northcott’s Office”, concerned that Floied would “evade justice” because of his connection to Manchester PD.

More from the complaint:

“During the early part of the investigation by Sgt. Danny Ferrell, Ms. Lowe was assured that it was clear to Sgt. Ferrell who the aggressor was and that based upon the evidence, she could not be charged. Later, after Ms. Lowe continued to aggressively pursue movement in the case, Sgt. Ferrell reversed course and declared that he would file charges against both Ms. Lowe and Joseph Floied. Ms. Lowe believes that she was only charged as a result of her unyielding determination to see that her assault would not go unpunished.”

She says that because of District Attorney Northcott’s handling of the case she tried to have him removed, but Northcott himself denied the request, and the subsequent motion to have him disqualified was also denied.

In July of 2016 the case against Ms. Lowe was dismissed. She then filed suit for Malicious Prosecution and violations of her 4th Amendment Constitutional Rights, but the the case was dismissed “without prejudice”.

Ms. Lowe contends that:

“District Attorney Craig Northcott has acted in violation of the Rules of Professional Responsibility and abused his position by: a) pursuing charges against her that were not supported by the evidence, b) pursuing charges against her despite that pursuit furthering an appearance of impropriety, c) misrepresentation in a legal tribunal to diminish the appearance of the impropriety.

As a result of these violations, Ms. Lowe reasons that DA Northcott has displayed a wanton indifference to his legal obligations as a prosecutor… a systemic abuse of discretion that is prejudicial to the administration of justice…  she has been a victim of a miscarriage of justice perpetrated by a Prosecutor who has disregarded his prosecutorial obligations for personal and political purposes by abusing the broad discretion empowered upon him as prosecutor. Ms. Lowe asks this Board to weigh the evidence presented and to sanction Mr. Northcott accordingly.”

Lowes says that when the brother of the Assistant Chief of the Manchester Police Department is afforded preferential treatment in a domestic assault investigation, there is a strong appearance of impropriety:

“A courtesy call to Adam Floied as a member of the Manchester Police Department is a privilege not afforded to ordinary members of the public. The lack of an arrest in the face of the evidence at the scene is a privilege not afforded to ordinary members of the public. DA Northcott’s own admission that he informed Asst. Chief Floied, “I’m going to handle your brother’s case, or something like that, I’m going to go deal with that,” indicates a familiarity that is not afforded to ordinary members of the public.”

She says Asst. Chief Floied and DA Northcott have “an active and public social media friendship” which bring into question his impartiality and gives “the appearance of impropriety”.

“DA Northcott has recently demonstrated that he is willing to use his prosecutorial discretion for personal and political purposes.  In a videotaped speaking engagement in 2018, DA Northcott made a proclamation at a gathering of religious leaders to explicitly announce that he would use his prosecutorial discretion for the sole political purpose of not prosecuting those who violate the law on Christian grounds. He stated, “So, to deal with that, you elect a good Christian man as DA, and you’ll make sure at least they don’t get prosecuted criminally.”

At that same gathering, DA Northcott revealed his reluctance to prosecute for domestic assault by stating, “There’s a subcategory of assault called domestic assault, But a domestic assault carries more punishment: You forever lose the right to own a gun under federal and state law, you have restrictions on your movement that you otherwise wouldn’t have under what we call ‘simple assault’ and there are other enhanced punishments.” The last statement indicates DA Northcott understands the ramifications of a domestic assault conviction and displays his hesitancy in applying it.”

Lowe contends these comments confirm DA Northcott abuses his position of power for his own political and personal benefit:

“DA Northcott has continued to make statements, without apology, about not applying the law or recognizing Constitutional protections to homosexuals or non-Christians. Ms. Lowe offers that in her case, it is not the promise to deny her full protection of the law, but it is the actual denial of the protections of the law. Ms. Lowe argues that this is calculated and intentional prosecutorial misconduct…

Ms. Lowe asks this Board to consider this complaint against the conduct of DA Northcott and to decide accordingly.

You can read the ethics complaint HERE, and the police reports HERE and HERE.

Casada Ex-Chief Cothren “FOR” Independent TBI Email Investigation

Speaker Casada’s Chief of staff Cade Cothren has just joined twitter, and has responded to us on Twitter saying he welcomes an independent investigation into the possibly falsified emails he’s suspected of sending to Nashville D.A. Glenn Funk to get civil rights activist Justin Jones thrown in jail.

As you know by now, speaker Glen Casada is stepping down among a whirlwind of scandals, and will soon be replaced by Cameron Sexton in a special session August 23rd.

Aside from the lying, racism, sexism, cocaine-snorting, misuse of campaign funds, the list goes on… the one thing that has stood out as potentially the ugliest of all was the possibility Speaker Casada’s office had falsified the date on an email they received from civil rights activist Justin Jones in an attempt to revoke the terms of his bail and have him thrown in jail.

This came on the heels of an incident where Jones threw an iced tea cup at the speaker in frustration after Casada’s aide Cade Cothren had lied and said Jones was getting his email wrong when requesting a meeting (he wasn’t).

Casada’s office was asked about the discrepancies in the email dates by Channel 5’s Phil Williams, and were silent at first, before then saying the confusion was the result of the emails being stuck in the SPAM folder at the legislature – odd considering even the font seems to have change in the screen shot presented to the District Attorney.

Nashville D.A. Glenn Funk recused himself from the case since he was the recipient of the email, which is when Coffee County D.A. Craig Northcott entered the picture. We have since revealed that Northcott is an open Islamophobe and Homophobe who refuses to recognize the Supreme court’s authority and won’t treat LGBT people equally under the law.

Jones and his attorneys have tried to get Northcott removed from the case because of his clear disdain for the constitution, but so far that hasn’t happened.

In the meantime Northcott has used his prosecutorial discretion to not take the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation up on the offer to perform an independent investigation into the possibly falsified emails, instead taking the IT department at the legislature’s word for it – a group that serves at the behest of Speaker Casada.

If indeed the issue was something as simple as an email being stuck in a SPAM folder, why not call for an independent investigation? Why not clear the names of Casada and Cothren and let Tennesseans know that those two may be liars and sexist and crude and in Cothren’s case (at least) deeply racist, but they may not have actually tried to used their power to get Jones thrown in jail?

This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. Knowing what really happened to those emails from an impartial source would be a step toward healing for Tennessee, and judging by his tweets Cothren himself seems to agree, at least on the surface.

He has just joined Twitter and has taken time out from answering months-old mentions of himself with Taylor Swift memes…

….to say that he is “FOR” an independent investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

So what’s the hold up?

If you believe Northcott should take Cothren up on that offer, holler at him HERE: 931-723-5057

Jones’ next hearing is August 15th at 9AM. Watch our new VIDEO from the last hearing:

VIDEO: HUMAN CHAIN IN HERMITAGE

Watch neighbors form a Human Chain in Hermitage yesterday to protect a father and son from ICE and allow them to get from the van they were trapped in for hours into their house.

The family then gathered their belongings into plastic bags and fled.

Read the Newsweek story.

(Video from Occupy Democrats & Nashville Noticias)

VIDEO: LIGHTS FOR LIBERTY ACROSS TENNESSEE

Tennesseans across the state gather to protest the Trump administration’s inhumane treatment of refugees and immigrants at the border, especially children.

Bill Lee’s Medical Poverty Tour

This post was first seen on the TN Citizen Action Blog. Follow @TNCitizenAction for more.

On Friday, Governor Bill Lee toured rural counties in southern middle Tennessee touting what he called his legislative accomplishments.

It’s worth noting that the counties he toured are home to residents with crushing medical debt, this is why medical debt relief is highly important and needs addressing by those in power. Additionally, many citizens in these counties face a lack of access to health insurance. This is despite there being insurance quote comparison sites like Insurance Quotes (https://www.insurancequotes.com/health) which help people to find affordable health insurance. While Lee failed to apologize for his health policy failures, the citizens of this area and all of Tennessee should be holding Lee accountable. People can follow steps from sites like Extras Finance and be very careful with their money and still end up having issues with medical debt, after all.

His steadfast refusal to expand Medicaid – at no cost to Tennessee taxpayers – is creating a crisis in a state that already leads the nation in both rural hospital closures and medical debt.

Here’s more (data from The Sycamore Institute) on the state of healthcare in each of the counties Lee visited:

Giles County

28% of residents have medical debt in collections on their credit report

Between 11% and 14% of Giles County residents do not have health insurance

Lawrence County

30% of residents have medical debt in collections on their credit report

14-17% of Lawrence County residents do not have health insurance

Lincoln County

26% of residents have medical debt in collections on their credit report

8-11% of Lincoln County residents do not have health insurance

Bedford County

33% of residents have medical debt in collections on their credit report

14-17% of Bedford County residents do not have health insurance

Percent-of-Tennesseans-without-Health-Insurance-2012-2016-1

According to Andy Spears, executive director of Tennessee Citizen Action:

“Bill Lee’s stubborn refusal to expand Medicaid is an absolute policy failure. The current state of healthcare in these counties and all across our state is unacceptable. We lead the nation in rural hospital closures. We lead the nation in medical debt. Instead of announcing a plan to move forward and improve the lives of the residents of these counties, Lee is busy selling the snake oil of his Administration’s ‘success’. It’s disappointing and shameful. Tennesseans in Giles, Lawrence, Lincoln, and Bedford counties and all over our state deserve straight talk and real solutions.”

Bill Lee Fail

For more on our work fighting for healthcare, follow @TNCitizenAction

FLASHBACK: Speaker Candidate Rep. Jay Reedy Fails Basic Civics

Rep. Jay Reedy (R-Erin) has thrown his hat in the ring to replace Glen Casada as the next speaker, so let’s take a quick trip down memory lane to remember a few of his greatest hits.

First, there’s the time Reedy used the derogatory term “wetback” multiple times in a committee meeting about a sanctuary cities bill.

Then there’s the time Reedy posted incredulously (and Islamophobically) about “Muslim Day On The Hill”:

And then there’s this – an ad from Reedy’s challenger in 2016, Andy Porch, in which Reedy fails to answer 2 basic civil questions: What is America’s economic system? (capitalism!) and how many Supreme Court Justices are there? (9!)

Watch the VIDEO:

Needless to say, Reedy isn’t ready.

VIDEO: Detective/Pastor Fritts Doubles Down On Hate Speech

“I am not an anomaly… If they hate you it means you’re doing the right thing.”

On Wednesday, in his first appearance since becoming national news, Knox Detective/Pastor Fritts said he’s “not calling anyone to violence” – while reiterating his monstrous attacks on LGBT people and calling out fellow preachers as “weak” and “spineless” for not backing him up.

KINGSPORT’S BALLAD HEALTH PROTEST ENTERS 40TH DAY

Residents in the Sullivan County/Kingsport, TN area have just entered their 40th day of protesting a recent hospital merger that will put the health care of many at risk. The merger is a demonstration of the intersection between political and corporate corruption.

Dani Cook, a local advocate from Bristol, Tennessee, explains the situation in detail below… And watch our brief VIDEO from Day 39:

BALLAD HEALTH:

Where Apparent Healthcare, Political, & Corporate Corruption Meet

In one of the most unusual healthcare-related actions ever taken by 2 states, State Senators, Representatives, Departments of Health, Attorneys General, and Community Business and Education Leaders joined together with two separate healthcare systems to create a medical monopoly, intentionally displacing competition and granting state and federal antitrust immunity.

The State of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia have executed a “COPA” – a Certificate of Public Advantage/Cooperative Agreement – unlike any in the history of healthcare in America.

The COPA annual review has just finished, and the TN Health Dept. couldn’t “grade” Ballad Health as laid out in the Terms of Certification. Because the Terms of Certification included a Plan of Separation requiring Wellmont Health System, Mountain States Health Alliance, and Ballad Health (the new health system) to keep 90% of their assets separate for the first 18 months after the COPA was issued, there is a unique window of opportunity to have the COPA modified or terminated!

The COPA law states:

“This COPA is subject to modification if at any time the Department (of Health) determines the likely benefits resulting from the Cooperative Agreement no longer outweigh any disadvantages attributable to any potential reduction in competition that may result from the Cooperative Agreement.

This COPA is subject to termination if the Department determines the benefits resulting from the Cooperative Agreement no longer outweigh any disadvantages attributable to a reduction in competition that may result from the Cooperative Agreement, and modification of the COPA is not obtained.”

Read the COPA Agreement HERE.

Since the COPA has been executed, there have been reductions in pay, changes in services, repurposing and deletions of services, and a severe reduction in access to quality healthcare.

The changes have caused severe staffing shortages, true emergencies being treated in triage/waiting rooms, significantly increased wait times, patients being held in the ER for days to weeks, increased transports (often not covered by insurance), over-billing, and lawsuits from the health system against patients for bills, among other negative effects.

The region is rural, and has a poverty rate of 20-30%.

The people here are suffering. Doctors and nurses are leaving. And those that cannot leave are scared to speak out for fear of retaliation from Ballad Health.

Those fears are well founded, as several employees have already been admonished, warned, and even fired for doing so.

If we are going to save our healthcare system, the time to act is now, before the assets are combined on July 31st, 2019, which is why 10 residents have signed onto a federal lawsuit requesting Declaratory and Injunctive Relief.

HOW WE GOT HERE

The original COPA legislation – The Hospital Cooperation Act of 1993 – allowed health systems that were in financial trouble to work together in order to reduce costs, remain profitable, and still provide quality healthcare.

It did not, however, allow those health care systems to merge.

In 2014, Wellmont Health System announced it was looking for a strategic partner to help keep their hospitals operating, and reduce their $411 Million debt. The concern with this prospect was that Mountain States, with their own $892 Million debt, would be forced to do the same.

Shortly thereafter, prominent local businessman and BancTenn Chair, Bill Greene, was in the hospital for cellulitis in his leg. According to several interviews Greene gave in the press, it was this hospital stay that set off a chain of events that would change healthcare in our region.

It started with Greene’s cardiologist stopping by to check on him during the stay. Green asked the cardiologist to take a look at his chart, but he explained he could not do so because he was a Wellmont physician, and Greene was in a Mountain States Health Alliance hospital.

On a subsequent golfing trip Greene expressed his dissatisfaction that the two systems could not access each other’s information, especially given their proximity to each other (although this is common with all competing hospitals).

Greene asked Alan Levine, the new CEO of Mountain States, what the options were to rectify the situation. Levine explained that the two health care systems would not be allowed to merge by the FTC because they would be creating a medical monopoly, and that the FTC has a 70% success rate in blocking such acquisitions/mergers. He explained they would have a hard battle on their hands and would require the aid of a law firm similar to Whitcomb, Selinsky, PC (https://www.whitcomblawpc.com/) that specializes in government contracts and business mergers and acquisitions.

Levine then shared the idea of a COPA – a so-far unused state mechanism that put price and competitive controls in place, and shielded health system mergers from FTC scrutiny.

Per Greene, he and a group of self-proclaimed “Hole-in-the-Wall Gang” members gathered together at his home to determine if it was “worth it” to pursue the idea. This group of 15 local business, education, and community leaders who manage approximately 65% of the region’s employees spent 4-5 hours discussing the option, and determined that it was worth it.

Over the course of the next few months the “Hole in the Wall Gang” began to hold public forums, created a website, and leveraged the local media to convince the public of two things:

1. Their hospitals were failing financially and were in such terrible shape that they were about to be sold to an outside healthcare system who would have no knowledge of or interest in the local region, and would dismantle, reduce, and close hospitals.
2. That the merger of Wellmont Health System and Mountain States Health Alliance was their only chance of survival.

In addition to spreading their message to the public, the Hole in the Wall Gang needed to change the existing COPA Law, since it did not allow for the hospitals to merge. To accomplish that mission and get around the FTC’s 70% success rate blocking such mergers for antitrust reasons, The Gang would need to get new legislation introduced and passed.

Fortunately for them, one Gang member – Mountain States Health Alliance – had the Chair of the Tennessee Senate Health Committee on the payroll: Senator Rusty Crowe (R-Washington & Carter Counties).

Crowe had been a contracted employee for Mountain States for several years, and was the perfect vehicle through which these new pieces of legislation could be passed. On April 8, 2015 Senator Crowe introduced SB0994 to the Health and Welfare Committee.

Senator Richard Briggs (R-Knox County) abstained from voting due to a conflict as he also works for a healthcare system in nearby Knoxville TN.

Senator Doug Overbey (current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of TN) abstained, stating:

“What is being proposed is an attempt to provide some insulation from anti-trust scrutiny under traditional anti-trust principles under both federal and state law and in fact, I think that’s what it says what it’s trying to do in Section 2.8.”

Senator Rusty Crowe – again, a paid hospital employee/vendor of Ballad Health – declared Rule 13, which states that he has a personal interest in this law being passed but that he promises his vote is in the best interest of the people.

As laws were being drafted, sponsored and passed by the politicians, the healthcare system administrators and Hole in the Wall Gang members were busy getting letters of support together from local businesses and organizations.

On June 2015, Commissioner of Health John Dreyzehner sent a letter to FTC Staff asking for an opinion. His question: If the New Health System that results from the merger under the COPA was subsequently sold to a non-COPA healthcare system outside of the region, would that trigger an antitrust review?

Better question: Why was he asking that?

At the time, Wellmont and MSHA had not filed a letter of intent to apply for the COPA or submitted the application. So why was the TN Commissioner of Health asking a question that appeared to only be of informational benefit to two private healthcare systems?

After 6 months, and subsequent phone conversations with the TN Dept. of Health, the FTC finally responded to this request for opinion, saying that typically once a merger is allowed to happen, and the assets have been combined, it is extremely difficult to undo.

They said it’s like trying to unscramble an egg.

A few weeks later, Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System submitted their application for a COPA.

Over the next two years, there were public hearings held in the local community, but with the local news media only being fed information from the two health systems and the Hole in the Wall Gang, the public was unaware of just what’s at stake, and hardly participated.

The local and state politicians, businessmen, and education leaders did attend those hearings, and advocated for the merger to be approved and COPA granted.

(*Important to note the participants in these public hearings because of their positions, the companies they own, and roles in the community – See “Cast of Characters” below… Also important to note the expert testimonies of FTC Staff and Bob Leibenluft, a DC antitrust attorney, formerly of the FTC Healthcare Antitrust Division)

(**It’s also interesting to note the investment Bill Greene seemed to have in this outcome. He’s a banker. Why the interest in healthcare?)

During the course of the public hearings, several independent investigations and subsequent reports were conducted, 2 of which are of particular importance, as they were financed by the FTC and by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

(Spoiler Alert: They both said “DO NOT DO THIS” – a merger is not necessary to accomplish the efficiencies and commitments promised, and no detailed plan has been provided to prove through clear and convincing evidence that this will be an advantage to the public.)

Independent Report by Robert Town (Commonwealth of VA Hired Expert): Here

Independent Report by Kenneth Kizer (FTC Hired Expert): Here

While there is a lot of information and additional players to be mentioned in this section, including people who worked with Alan Levine at his past companies coming to work with him, one of which was fined $260 Million for fraud, a CEO coming out of retirement, and more questionable political connections, let’s keep moving…

Fast-forward to January 31st, 2018, when the COPA is issued.

Even though the State of TN and Commonwealth of Virginia knew this day was coming, and the laws passed required oversight for the granting of the COPA, no COPA Oversight had been set up at that time.

In fact, it was approximately 4 months before the external COPA Oversight Monitor, Larry Fitzgerald was hired.

During that 4 month unsupervised period, the new health system – Ballad Health – made a move to refinance their debt through hospital municipal bonds. Keep in mind, between the two health systems they had approximately $1.3 Billion in debt.

As a combined system, their overall value was $3 Billion. The current rating on their bonds was a BBB+, so they shopped around to get the bonds refinanced, with the goal of getting a better bond rating to reduce their debt.

They located the Greeneville TN Health and Education Facilities Board, a board whose members had just been in trouble for not bothering to meet for 2 years, and had a better rating than Ballad’s bonds.

Keep in mind, Ballad Health is a nonprofit organization, and therefore a bond that refinances their debt is not allowed… unless you know a couple of politicians – in this case former TN Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey, who called U.S. Representative Diane Black, who chaired the House Budget Committee and could rewrite the wording that allows the refinancing to take place.

Still crunching the numbers… but over $100 Million of them were traded between May 10th– May 15th, and the bonds weren’t delivered until 6/6, so the question is: Who had the bonds before the rating was improved, and who bought and sold the bonds?

The CFO of Ballad Health, Lynn Krutak – who helped CEO Alan Levine get the bond to refinance the debt – is also on the Healthcare Advisory Board for PNC Bank.

PNC Capital Investments is one of the three underwriters for the bonds, along with B of A, Merrill Lynch, and US BancCorp.

Bond Series A: Click Here

Bond Series B: Click Here

Ballad Health states in the SEC paperwork that they do not have the money to repay this debt or meet the COPA commitments, and that these funds (during their Forward-Looking Statements) would be derived from merger synergies and consolidations/deletions of services.

In this paperwork they outline certain changes that were not announced to the public or TN Health Department until 6 months after they had already begun implementation.

These changes, specifically the downgrading of the Level III NICU at Holston Valley Medical Center (FULL DISCLOSURE: where my granddaughter was born in 2017 weighing 1 pound 3 ounces), are what prompted my interest, subsequent research, and activism against Ballad Health, the TN Health Department, and VA & TN politicians.

(Yes, there is a lot that happens in Virginia as well… it’s just too much to go into here.)

You may be wondering why people weren’t upset and outraged by all of these things prior to November 2018… Well, it’s pretty simple: Within days of the COPA being issued, Senator Rusty Crowe introduced SB2048 (the revised version of HB2020 first introduced by Rep. Gary Hicks) which is a law protecting the information from the public:

SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 13, is amended by adding the following as a new section: 68-11-1310.

(a) The following records received by the department or the attorney general and reporter from the recipients or applicants of a certificate of public advantage for a cooperative agreement issued pursuant to this part shall not be subject to disclosure pursuant to title 10, chapter 7, part 5:

(1) Operating and capital budgets;

(2) Existing and future business plans other than any plans, and any modifications to those plans, that are required to be submitted to the state pursuant to a certificate of public advantage or application for a certificate of public advantage;

(3) Financial audit working papers as defined in § 4-3-304(7);

(4) Contracts or agreements with payors and payorpricing information;

(5) Physician recruitment plans and contracts or agreements with physicians;

(6) Contracts or agreements with vendors;

(7) Complaints, including hotline complaints and open investigations of such complaints; and Senate Health and Welfare Committee 1 Amendment No. 1 to SB2048 Crowe Signature of Sponsor AMEND Senate Bill No. 2048 House Bill No. 2020* SA0731 014499 -2-

(8) Employee personnel files, including performance evaluations, disciplinary actions, individual compensation amounts, and employment contract terms not otherwise publicly available.

In addition to these items being protected by this piece of legislation, it also stipulates that if you request this information, are denied, and then sue to obtain it, you – the citizen – are required to pay the attorney’s fees for the healthcare system/TN Dept. of Health.

So to recap: They created a medical monopoly, gave it anti-trust immunity on a state and federal level, protected non-proprietary information including complaints and changes to services, and on top of all of that they have placed the financial burden of seeking this information directly on the citizens for whom this COPA is supposed to be an advantage.

REVIEW

There are 1.2 Million people in rural Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Northwest North Carolina, and Southeast Kentucky who are at the mercy of a medical monopoly that exists ONLY because a healthcare corporation, run by a CEO with an employment history that includes two companies that received judgments of $1.7 Billion and $260 Million in healthcare fraud, a group of local and state politicians, and a “Hole-in-the-Wall Gang” of city business, education, and community leaders banded together to change state law that allowed them to merge and granted them IMMUNITY from federal and state antitrust laws.

This unprecedented use of state law borders on unconstitutional given the protections of the Sherman Antitrust Act. And if not quite unconstitutional, certainly unconscionable, unethical, and immoral considering the impact on an already impoverished, under-served community.

We do not have a healthcare crisis in this country, we have a corruption crisis in this country, and corporations, politicians, and governmental policies and practices create, perpetuate, and celebrate its existence.

That is why we need you. No one is watching them. No one is hearing us.

And despite Ballad Health’s motto “It’s Your Story, We’re Listening.”

Our cries are falling on deaf ears.

Please help.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Alan Levine, CEO Ballad Health, HMA (Health Management Associates) 2010-2013 – President & CEO of the Florida Group of Hospitals – DOJ $260M Fraud Judgment for 2008-2012 false claims.

2017 Broward Health Whistleblower Case Referencing Alan Levine Kickbacks 2006

Columbia/HCA Fraud Judgment (Where Alan Levine first works with/becomes friends with Rick Scott)

Alan Levine is a member of the Federalist Society (his page as a “Contributor”) and is extremely active in political campaign contributions

Bill Greene – Chairman, banquet

Articles for Reference:

http://bjournal.com/effort-to-influence-wellmonts-merger-strategy-spreading/

https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/majority-voice-support-for-merger-ftc-opposition-continues/article_e2b48c1e-8136-5bce-91b5-d931f6a78840.html

https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Health-Care/2017/09/23/How-a-case-of-cellulitis-and-a-meeting-of-the-hole-in-the-wall-gang-led-to

https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Health-Care/2018/01/31/Ballad-Health-merger-timeline

https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Business/2017/08/24/New-ETSU-stadium-named-for-William-B-Greene-Jr

https://www.juniorachievement.org/web/ja-tnva/william-b.-greene-jr.

Scott Niswonger – President Niswonger Foundation (Money Influence)

Brian Noland – President, East TN State University & Member of Ballad Board of Directors

David Golden SVP Safety & Sustainability, Eastman Chemical Company

Tony Keck – Worked with Alan Levine in Louisiana & SVP at Ballad Health

Andy Hall – Ballad Health Gov’t Relations

Eric Deaton – Ballad Health Marketing

Bart Hove – Wellmont CEO – came out of retirement to help make the COPA happen. Was supposed to stay on as 2nd in command at Ballad Health but left the day the COPA was issued.

Melody Trimble – Worked with Alan Levine at HMA and came to work with him at MSHA – also left the day the COPA was issued.

Identified Hole-in-the-Wall Gang Members (10 of 15): Bill Green, Brian Noland, David Golden, Scott Niswonger, Alan Levine, Dennis Phillips, Keith Wilson, Roy Harmon, Jerry Miller, John Tickle, Dr. Bill Hazel (Secretary of Health & Human Resource for the Commonwealth of Virginia met with the Hole in the Wall Gang Sept. 2014.

Politicians —

Tennessee: Senator Rusty Crowe, Senator Mark Norris, Speaker Ron Ramsey, Representative Gary Hicks, Senator Diane Black, Representative Bud Hulsey, Senator Jon Lundberg, Representative David Hawk – Also on COPA Advisory Council

Virginia: Terry Kilgore

Dani Cook is a local advocate from Bristol, Tennessee.