Outside Parties Interested in JRMC Facility; Rennova Not Budging

Fentress County has received interest from outside parties in acquiring Jamestown Regional Medical Center.

That according to County Mayor Jimmy Johnson. However, Johnson said hospital owner Rennova Health Systems is not interested in giving up the facility.

“We’re going to start making plans somehow but I don’t know how we’re going to do it,” Johnson said. “We’ve been in talks with them to try to get them to either sell or lease to someone. We have some people out there that would be interested in leasing the hospital but they’re at a standstill. If we can’t get them to move forward, we’re going to try moving forward ourselves. We had been open to all options, but the best option would be for them to get back on their feet and do something soon, or lease it to someone that’s wanting to.”

Johnson notes not much has changed at JRMC since Rennova placed the facility under a temporary closure June 13.

Johnson said the hospital’s future comes down to whether or not Rennova is willing to let the facility go to another operator.

“we’ve had different people from different towns and out of state even calling that have interest in it. Whether they would go forward with it, I don’t know, but they’ve showed interest in it,” Johnson said. “It’s just a matter of the ownership wanting to lease it or to sell it. Like we’ve said before… if you can’t sustain it, run it, operate it like you should, why would you not be interested in not selling or lease it, and let someone take over just for the safety and the healthcare of the Fentress County citizens?”

JRMC began deflecting patients from its emergency room at the end of May prior to the temporary closure. Johnson said not having an operating hospital has created a major inconvenience for area residents.

“If you have a small emergency-type situation that you would have driven two or three miles to, you’re going to end up driving 35 miles to a hospital facility whether you take it by ambulance or by private vehicle,” Johnson said. “It’s a burden and it’s just time for them to stand up and say ‘hey we’re going to operate this hospital like it should be.’ They’ve had four or five months to get this done and they haven’t done it yet.”

Depending on the location, residents have to travel to Cookeville Regional Medical Center, Livingston Regional Hospital, or Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville for an emergency room.