ONEIDA, Tenn. — Senator Marsha Blackburn is escalating her concerns about Rennova, the company which owns the Big South Fork Medical Center in Oneida and the Jellico Community Hospital.
Senator Blackburn forward the state Attorney General new information about Rennova's dire financial situation on Saturday.
In a new letter to the company's CEO, Blackburn says:
"Employees and patients deserve to know if the hospital they go to today is capable, competent and adequately resourced to provide the health care services needed and that it will be open tomorrow."
Blackburn also said the Oneida hospital faces several liens after not paying more than a million dollars in federal taxes.
She said it has also not paid state unemployment tax.
Former employees at the Oneida hospital tell 10News it did not have basic lab supplies needed for critical life saving tests. Employees also said they have not been properly paid for months.
Blackburn said the financial situation at Big South Fork Medical Center "a fact pattern similar to Jamestown."
Rennova closed the Jamestown Regional Medical Center last summer after the federal government said it would no longer pay for patients to go there.
10News reported extensively on issues at the Jamestown hospital, including doctors who said it was not safe for patients and employees - who said Rennova withheld money for their paychecks, but did not pay taxes.
10News reached out to Rennova for a response Saturday, but has not heard back.