The Tennessee Department of Health works to insure the quality of health of Tennessee residents by addressing the needs of many health-related organizations.

TennCare CHOICES in Long-Term Care (CHOICES) is TennCare's program for long-term care services. It provides assistance to low-income elderly who are in need of such services but cannot afford them. CHOICES was made available statewide on Aug. 1, 2010.

Tennessee’s TennCare program extends coverage to the Medicaid population and to individuals who are determined to be uninsured or uninsurable, using a system of Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).

AccessTN provides comprehensive health insurance for adults who are uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions.

The Tennessee General Assembly created the Commission on Aging and Disability in 1963. This organization works to protect and provide services to the elderly statewide. There are 26 members on its board.

Cover Tennessee was developed to create health insurance options that are affordable and that meet the needs of the uninsured. The program is a partnership between the state, employers and individuals. Cover Tennessee has four subprograms, two of which assist seniors: CoverRx and AccessTN.

CoverRx offers affordable prescription drugs to Tennessee residents who lack pharmacy coverage.

The Tennessee General Assembly formed the Tennessee Community Services Agency in 2008 after merging five regional community service agencies. The combined organization’s mission is to help citizens in need. One of the main components of that work includes TennCare advocacy. Below is each of TCSA’s satellite offices in Tennessee.

The Insurance Division is responsible for enforcing the state's insurance laws and supervising more than 1,700 insurance companies and other entities licensed or otherwise authorized to do business in Tennessee.

The Department of Human Services works to improve the well-being of Tennessee residents who are economically disadvantaged, vulnerable or living with disabilities through a network of financial, employment, protective and rehabilitative services. The department is responsible for administering numerous services throughout Tennessee, including Medicaid/TennCare, a program designed to expand health insurance to the uninsured by utilizing managed care organizations (MCOs) to reduce the costs of health care.

The Department of Commerce and Insurance comprises many divisions and stands ready to assist individuals and businesses within the industries it regulates. This diverse agency protects the interests of consumers while providing fair, efficient oversight and a level field of competition for a broad array of industries and professionals doing business in Tennessee.

The Tennessee Health Care Campaign (THCC) bills itself as the state’s premier nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Begun in 1989, the organization seeks to make affordable health care choices available to everyone. It operates via a series of Local Organizing Groups (LOGs) in larger Tennessee cities and towns, such as Chattanooga, Cookeville, Dyersburg, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville and the Tri Cities area of Northeast Tennessee (Kingsport, Johnson City and Bristol). Elder care issues are part of THCC’s overarching vision to expand health care for citizens from the grassroots up.

A nongovernment resource for information about Medicare and related services, Medicare Information Source–Tennessee Medicare is designed for Medicare-eligible patients such as those 65 and older, people with disabilities or patients with kidney disease. It gives separate overviews of Medicare Hospital Insurance (Part A), Medicare Medical Insurance (Part B), Medicare Advantage Plans (Part C) and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D), as well as options for privately funded Medicare Supplement Insurance (Medigap) insurance, or insurance that helps pay for health services not covered by Medicare. This site also is searchable by state and allows users to compare prices and potential costs of coverage.

AARP, formerly the American Association of Retired Persons, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a membership that advocates for people ages 50 and older. Since 1958, AARP has lobbied for senior issues, including the passage of Medicare in 1965. AARP offers support from staffed offices in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The long-term care ombudsman advocates for residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The office resolves complaints and educates seniors and long-term care providers about their rights and good care practices. The ombudsman also provides information to the public on nursing homes and other long-term care facilities and services, residents' rights, and legislative and policy issues. In 1978, an amendment to the federal Older Americans Act required every state to have an ombudsman program that addresses complaints and advocates for improvements in the long-term care system. The ombudsman program is administered by the Administration on Aging (AoA).

The Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) were established under the Older Americans Act (OAA) Comprehensive Services Amendments in 1973 to respond to the needs of Americans 60 and older in every local community. The amendments added a new Title V, which authorized grants to local community agencies in every state. The AAAs provide a range of options that allow older adults to choose the home- and community-based services and living arrangements that suit them best.

The Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program helps Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries avoid, detect and prevent health care fraud. The goal is to protect older people and to preserve the integrity of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The federal program was created in 1996 by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and amended in 2006 by Titles II and IV of the Older Americans Act.

Qsource, Center for Healthcare Quality is the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) for the state of Tennessee. QIOs are private, mostly not-for-profit organizations, staffed by doctors and other health care professionals, who are trained to review medical care, to help beneficiaries with complaints about the quality of care and to implement improvements in the quality of care available throughout the spectrum of care. QIOs are required under Sections 1152-1154 of the Social Security Act.

The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) is a national program that offers counseling and assistance to people with Medicare and to their families. Coordinators provide counseling on Medicare benefits, Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D), Social Security, Medicaid and veterans' benefits. SHIP, formerly the Information, Counseling and Assistance (ICA) grants program, was created under section 4360 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990. This act authorized the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to make grants to states for health advisory services programs for people with Medicare.

Stephen C. Reynolds has been at Baptist Memorial Health Care since 1971. He started as an administrative resident and worked his way up to his current position — president and CEO — in 1994. Baptist, one of the largest not-for-profit health care systems in the United States, comprises 14 hospitals across Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. Reynolds received his master’s degree in health administration from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson has been president and CEO of Erlanger Health System since December 2011, after being appointed by the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority Board of Trustees. She started at Erlanger in 1992 as a department director and rose to senior vice president of human resources in 1999. Before her tenure at Erlanger, Woodard-Thompson worked in managerial positions at Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, Tenn. She also spent time as an associate professor in management, business and economics at Pellissippi State Technical College, also in Knoxville. In 2008, Woodard-Thompson was named a Chattanooga Woman of Distinction.

Anthony L. Spezia is president and CEO of the seven-hospital Covenant Health in Knoxville, Tenn. He took over as CEO in 2000. Before Covenant, he worked at a family-owned group of three psychiatric hospitals in Knoxville, where he was in charge of the system’s multiple health insurance plans. Previously, Spezia was a management consultant and turnaround specialist for Arthur Anderson, and later spent time as chief operating officer of a Detroit-based energy company. Spezia, with the chief information officer of Covenant, launched a regional health information organization now known as Innovation Valley Health Medical Center, comprising Knoxville’s four major health systems.

C. Wright Pinson is CEO of the Vanderbilt Health System, as well as deputy vice chancellor of health affairs and senior associate dean of clinical affairs. His clinical interests include benign and malignant disorders of the liver, bile ducts and pancreas. He finished his postdoctoral studies with fellowships at Harvard University, New England Deaconess Hospital and the Lahey Clinic Medical Center. He helped initiate the first liver transplantation program in the Pacific Northwest at Oregon Health Sciences University in 1988. Two years later, he was recruited by Vanderbilt University as a professor of surgery to start their liver transplantation program and liver surgery division.

Joseph R. Landsman is president and CEO of the University of Tennessee Medical Center and University Health System Inc., the only academic medical center in its 21-county service area. He joined the organization as chief financial officer for University Health System in 1999 and, in late 2004, he was appointed to his current position. Landsman started his career in the health care industry at Arthur Anderson, and then moved to Sinai Hospital. During this time, he was also working with Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C.; Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Va.; and Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas.

Dawn Rudolph is president and CEO of Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. She started her career in health care at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. Her first position, in 1990, was as project coordinator to the administrator of the Dupont Surgery Center, which is part of the Lutheran Health Network. By 2000, she had advanced to be support services team leader at Dupont Hospital, also a member of the Lutheran Health Network. She was soon promoted to vice president of operations and then to chief operating officer of the facility. She returned to St. Joseph in 2009 to be CEO, before moving to St. Thomas Hospital.

James M. Hobson is president and CEO of Memorial Health Care System in Chattanooga, Tenn., the area’s only faith-based health system; prior to this he served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer. He has more than 20 years of experience in the health care industry, and spent 12 years at Phoebe Putney Health Systems in Albany, Ga., prior to joining Memorial in 2008. Hobson, a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, received his master’s degree in economics from the University of Memphis. Leapfrog Group, an advocacy organization for patients, included Memorial on its list of Top 50 Hospitals.

David Posch is CEO of Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinics, a position created in 2011 that combines management of both Vanderbilt University Hospital and Vanderbilt Clinic. Before joining Vanderbilt in 1999, Posch worked at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans and at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. He has also served as the chief operating officer of Vanderbilt Medical Group.

Gary Shorb has been president and CEO of Methodist Healthcare since October 2001. The company recruited Shorb in 1990 as its executive vice president. Before joining Methodist, he was president of the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, where he spent four years. Shorb has served on the boards of Memphis Tomorrow; the National Civil Rights Museums; the Memphis Regional Chamber of Commerce; the Memphis Bioworks Foundation; the University of Memphis Board of Visitors; the Foundation of Evangelism; and St. John’s United Methodist Church Administrative Council. Before his health care career, Shorb served as a project engineer at Exxon and as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy.

This committee is responsible for overseeing: public and private hospitals; health offices; institutions and services for mentally retarded patients; mental health institutions and facilities; geriatric hospitals; nursing homes; vocational rehabilitation facilities; alcoholic rehabilitation facilities; the state Department of Health; and old-age assistance and other relevant functions.

This joint council was created to develop and recommend standards and state policy relating to pensions and insurance for state and local governments within Tennessee. In addition to conducting surveys and studies, the council reviews and recommends actions on legislation presented to the General Assembly that impacts pension and insurance matters.

This committee regulates mental health, public health and human services issues. Legislation in these areas has touched on geriatric welfare in recent years, in addition to everything from AIDS to drug abuse, nursing homes and hospitals in Tennessee.