Best and worst hospitals near Greeneville TN (Knoxville, Johnson City: live, health care)

[inquisitive2]

I've heard so much about the changes in medical care; so, I'm wondering what are the best and worst hospitals in the Johnson City/Greeneville TN area?

[AppalachianAngler]

The only hospital in Greeneville is Greeneville Community Hospital East (formerly known as Laughlin Hospital). It is small and does only the basics. Everything else you will be going to Johnson City or Knoxville.

For Johnson City, it would be Johnson City Medical Center, which is generally going to be the best (IMO) in the upper East TN area.

Anything really specialized may require you to go to Knoxville or Nashville.

[rccrain]

If Franklin Woods in JC offers a procedure, I would go there first. If the service is unavailable at FW then I would use JC Med Center.

[rpulsifer1]

We moved here a year ago, and since we're in our 'golden years' have had some experience with the medical community. Here are some observations:
Prior to Ballad Health taking over the local hospitals and several medical practices, there seemed to be a genuine affection for the services one could find. Since Ballad came along, there appears to be a distaste and a sense of frustration - by patients and by the medical community itself. Why? Well, my sense is that it's likely an indictment of the way the medical industry has gone over the past several years more than anything. I've lived in states (California and New York) where conglomerates had already bought up the competition, so you just accept it. Now that we're in a much more rural area, it's a newer phenomena and let's face it, people don't always like change. The thoughts I've heard from some in the medical profession run along the lines of those practicing in other states: just get patients in and out and send the bill. It truly is a business, and Marcus Welby died years ago.
Long story short, we have found a wonderful primary physician who is in the Ballad universe - but may not always be. This doc is a throwback and is willing to talk with patients. For many procedures, the Greeneville Community Hospital (Ballad) seems capable - although we did get a bit of a nasty surprise that while they accept United Health Care, they weren't in our network of providers - so some routine things were not covered. The other issue is that this hospital is not an emergency hospital in the way that a larger city can offer. I think they say that they are no longer a level 1 emergency hospital. Some specialties, such as podiatry and docs performing nerve conduction tests, are not easily obtainable here, or are, um, maybe past their prime.

Johnson City has a larger hospital that is a level 1, and despite being a Ballad hospital seems to have a decent reputation. There is also a VA location, but as with many VA locations is a real mixed bag (love it or hate it).
However, in Knoxville, there is the UT medical center. My wife and I have been there a number of times, primarily for orthopedics. This is our go-to for anything outside of standard stuff, as it's a teaching hospital. The docs we've seen there are top-notch, and the staff is amazing. We certainly don't want to get sick or injured, but can rest easy knowing that they are reasonably close by.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by rpulsifer1

We moved here a year ago, and since we're in our 'golden years' have had some experience with the medical community. Here are some observations:
Prior to Ballad Health taking over the local hospitals and several medical practices, there seemed to be a genuine affection for the services one could find. Since Ballad came along, there appears to be a distaste and a sense of frustration - by patients and by the medical community itself. Why? Well, my sense is that it's likely an indictment of the way the medical industry has gone over the past several years more than anything. I've lived in states (California and New York) where conglomerates had already bought up the competition, so you just accept it. Now that we're in a much more rural area, it's a newer phenomena and let's face it, people don't always like change. The thoughts I've heard from some in the medical profession run along the lines of those practicing in other states: just get patients in and out and send the bill. It truly is a business, and Marcus Welby died years ago.
Long story short, we have found a wonderful primary physician who is in the Ballad universe - but may not always be. This doc is a throwback and is willing to talk with patients. For many procedures, the Greeneville Community Hospital (Ballad) seems capable - although we did get a bit of a nasty surprise that while they accept United Health Care, they weren't in our network of providers - so some routine things were not covered. The other issue is that this hospital is not an emergency hospital in the way that a larger city can offer. I think they say that they are no longer a level 1 emergency hospital. Some specialties, such as podiatry and docs performing nerve conduction tests, are not easily obtainable here, or are, um, maybe past their prime.

Johnson City has a larger hospital that is a level 1, and despite being a Ballad hospital seems to have a decent reputation. There is also a VA location, but as with many VA locations is a real mixed bag (love it or hate it).
However, in Knoxville, there is the UT medical center. My wife and I have been there a number of times, primarily for orthopedics. This is our go-to for anything outside of standard stuff, as it's a teaching hospital. The docs we've seen there are top-notch, and the staff is amazing. We certainly don't want to get sick or injured, but can rest easy knowing that they are reasonably close by.

Some services, especially cardiology, have been folded from GCHE (Laughlin) to JCMC. I would expect a further consolidation of services from the smaller/community hospitals like GCHE and especially southwest VA to be folded into JCMC as time goes on. Keep in mind that there was a significant overbuild of hospitals in this area (does Greenville with 15,000 people NEED two hospitals?), so some consolidation is probably warranted. Also, outside of Washington County, most of the region is in a state of net population decline (deaths > births), and I don't see much indication that this will change in coming years. Fewer people means fewer facilities are likely to be needed.