River Valley Health
Legal name: Cherokee Health Systems
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 620637925
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Knoxville, TN, US
- Phone
- 865-934-6700
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Ambulatory Health Center, Community Clinic
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $94,076,648
- Expenses
- $81,225,645
- Assets
- $155,059,618
- Liabilities
- $29,841,563
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
24 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOE HANIFORD (PRESIDENT)
- BILL LENCZYNSKI (VICE PRESIDENT)
- PARINDA KHATRI (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- PARINDA KHATRI (CEO): $403,079 total reported compensation
- GAIL REILLY (VP OF MEDICAL SERVICES): $276,499 total reported compensation
- CINDY PERRY (VP OF PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES): $273,633 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Providing trusted, compassionate care by bringing primary care, behavioral health, dental, vision, pharmacy, and more together in one place, making high-quality care accessible to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
What it reported doing in 2024
Cherokee health systems d/b/a river valley health (rvh) is committed to ensuring every individual has access to effective, high-quality care. We offer a wide array of comprehensive health services to children, adults, and seniors and offer a sliding-fee scale to those who meet certain household size and income guidelines. Rvh provided the following services during the year ended june 30, 2025: behavioral - provided 171,976 services to 26,948 patients during the fiscal year. Of these patients,8,080 received services that were not covered by a third party payer (uninsured). Medical - provided 212,482 services to 54,925 patients during the fiscal year. Of these patients, 16,833 received services that were not covered by a third party payer (uninsured). Pharmaceutical - filled 115,586 prescriptions under the federal 340(b) drug program during the fiscal year. Of that number, 32,097 prescriptions were not covered by a third party payer (uninsured).
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 79
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.3%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 78.5%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 13.7%; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.91; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.4%; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 66.3% of revenue deployed · 78.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $63.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $403K · 24 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.1M reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 32/100.