Ballad Health completes $8 million expansion of Clinical Command Center, accelerating care across the Appalachian Highlands

Enhanced technology and care coordination help patients access the right care faster while strengthening regional operations

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., Aug. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ballad Health has completed a nearly $8 million grant-funded expansion of its Clinical Command Center, strengthening the health system’s ability to coordinate patient transfers, deliver virtual care and support emergency operations and communications across the Appalachian Highlands. The expanded facility further enhances Ballad Health’s ability to provide high-quality technology-enabled care while strengthening its Regional Medical Communications Center, one of only seven state-designated centers in Tennessee responsible for coordinating emergency medical communications and patient bed placement across the region.

Opened in 2022, the Clinical Command Center serves as Ballad Health’s centralized hub for patient flow, transfer coordination, regional communications and technology-enabled care. By integrating these services into a single, systemwide network, the center helps connect patients to the right level of care more quickly while improving coordination across Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and the surrounding areas in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

The facility is also home to the Regional Medical Communications Center (RMCC), which serves as the State of Tennessee’s Region 1 coordinating hub for emergency medical services, air medical providers, 911 centers, emergency management agencies and the Tennessee Department of Health. The center helps ensure critical resources and communications are available whenever and wherever they are needed across the region and state.

The Clinical Command Center expansion was made possible through a combination of federal, state and organizational investments, including $4.8 million through the Tennessee Department of Healthcare Resiliency Program and $3 million through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant Program. Additional support was provided through the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program and Ballad Health to help expand technology-enabled care, strengthen regional care coordination and improve access to specialized care.

“From a clinical care perspective, every minute matters. The ability to see capacity across our health system in real time, coordinate transfers quickly and connect patients with the right level of care can make a meaningful difference in patient outcomes,” said Dr. Clay Runnels, emergency medicine physician, executive vice president and chief physician executive at Ballad Health. “Our Clinical Command Center gives us the tools to manage patient flow, emergency communications and virtual care from a single coordinated hub. For a rural health system serving communities across multiple states, this approach helps ensure patients receive timely access to specialized care while supporting our frontline teams and making the best use of available resources.”

By providing real-time visibility into bed availability and hospital capacity, the center has helped reduce bed assignment times by 74%, connecting patients to the care they need more quickly and reducing delays in treatment.

“The COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant challenges across the healthcare industry, from capacity constraints and patient flow bottlenecks to limited access to specialized care,” said Penni Kyte, Ballad Health’s senior vice president of technology-enabled care. “In response, Ballad Health has invested in innovative technologies that help us solve those challenges in new ways. Through our Clinical Command Center, virtual care programs and real-time capacity management tools, we’re able to make faster decisions, improve patient flow, use resources more effectively and connect more patients to high-quality care closer to home.”

In fiscal year 2026, Ballad Health facilitated more than 71,000 telehealth visits, an increase of 63% since fiscal year 2023, when the programs were in their infancy. Enhanced communication, virtual care and care coordination tools have also helped prevent more than 6,000 unnecessary patient transfers, enabling more patients to receive specialty consultations and treatment without the burden of traveling long distances.

Working closely with local EMS agencies, air medical partners, emergency management leaders, 911 centers and healthcare organizations throughout the region, Ballad Health has coordinated more than 56,000 patient transfers since fiscal year 2022, helping patients reach the right level of care while generating more than $4 million in transportation-related cost savings for patients. As a whole, the Clinical Command Center fielded more than 750,000 calls in fiscal year 2026, helping coordinate emergency response and ensuring patients are transported to the right hospital as quickly and safely as possible.

Through its transfer network, the Clinical Command Center coordinates communication and transportation among hospitals and health systems throughout the Southeast, including partnerships with Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and CHI Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga and the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville, Virginia. These connections help ensure patients have access to the appropriate level of care when transfers are necessary.

“Every day, we care for patients whose conditions require rapid evaluation and specialized expertise,” said Dr. Runnels. “Through our Clinical Command Center and virtual care programs, we’re able to connect clinicians across the region, ensuring patients receive timely specialty input without always needing to be transferred. That means faster decisions, more coordinated care and fewer disruptions for patients and their families.”

The center also manages Virtual Safety Companions, also known as virtual sitters, which provide an extra layer of support for patients who may be at risk of falls or other emergencies, and help address medical needs before hospitalization is necessary. Together, these programs have helped prevent more than 5,000 unnecessary hospitalizations since the center opened.

“At the heart of everything we do is the patient,” said Dr. Seth Brown, pediatric emergency medicine physician and chief medical officer of Niswonger Children’s Network and Franklin Woods Community Hospital. “Whether it’s a child, a trauma patient or someone facing a medical emergency, patients deserve access to the right care as quickly as possible. The Clinical Command Center helps make that happen by bringing together caregivers, specialists and emergency responders across the region, ensuring patients receive timely, coordinated care when they need it most.”

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About Ballad Health

Ballad Health is an integrated community health improvement organization serving 29 counties of the Appalachian Highlands in Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, Northwest North Carolina and Southeast Kentucky. Our system of 20 hospitals, post-acute care and behavioral health services, and a large multi-specialty group physician practice works closely with an active independent medical community and community stakeholders to improve the health and well-being of close to one million people. By leading in the adoption of value-based payments, addressing health-related social needs, funding clinical and health systems research and committing to long-term investments in strong children and families in our region, Ballad Health is striving to become a national model for rural health and healthcare. Learn more at www.BalladHealth.org. 

Ballad Health communications
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