Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 620528340
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Knoxville, TN, USA
- Phone
- (865) 331-1111
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Hospitals and Related Primary Medical Care Facilities
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $423,187,776
- Expenses
- $435,079,489
- Assets
- $249,493,829
- Liabilities
- $36,400,496
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
30 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- James D VanderSteeg (President & CEO)
- Keith N Altshuler (President & CAO)
Highest reported compensation
- James D VanderSteeg (President & CEO): $3,242,830 total reported compensation
- Joseph C Dolan (EVP/CFO): $967,301 total reported compensation
- Keith N Altshuler (President & CAO): $696,436 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center is part of Covenant Health and serves the community by improving the quality of life through better health. Our Mission, Vision, Values, and Pledge Covenant Health Brand Anthem Covenant Health is a Tennessee-based healthcare enterprise committed to providing the right care at the right time and place. As a not-for-profit health system, we are dedicated to being the region’s premier healthcare network through service, community and innovation. We provide patient-centered care that inspires clinical and service excellence, and strive to be the first and best choice for our patients, employees, physicians, employers, volunteers and communities. Covenant Health is the area’s largest employer and has more than 11,000 compassionate caregivers, expert clinicians, and dedicated employees and volunteers.
What it reported doing in 2024
Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center ("Fort Sanders Regional") traces its beginnings to May 1919, when a group of physicians received a charter from the State of Tennessee for a new hospital to be built on the site of the Civil War Battle of Fort Sanders. Fort Sanders Regional has grown throughout its 100+ year history to include 45 medical specialties. The hospital has 444 acute care beds and 24 beds in the Fort Sanders Transitional Care Unit. SERVICEThe hospital is known for excellence in stroke care, neurosciences, cardiology, surgery, oncology, orthopedics, obstetrics, bariatrics, and rehabilitation medicine. In 2024, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center received its fifth consecutive "A" Hospital Safety Grade from The Leapfrog Group. This national distinction celebrates Fort Sanders Regional's achievements in patient safety. Additionally, Fort Sanders Transitional Care Unit received an American Health Care Association Bronze National Quality Award, 5-star overall rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and U.S. News & World Report recognition as a Best Nursing Home.The hospital was also named on Becker's Hospital Review's 2024 list of "Great Hospitals in America" a national list of facilities that are "widely recognized for their clinical excellence, commitment to patient safety, innovative initiatives, research efforts, education and high levels of patient satisfaction."In 2024, Fort Sanders Regional also received eight Zero Harm Awards for patient safety from the Tennessee Hospital Association. These awards recognize outstanding patient safety achievements at hospitals across Tennessee.Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center served 224,561 patients in 2024. Of these, 204,886 were outpatients and 19,675 were inpatients, with an average length-of-stay of 4.84 days.PUTTING PATIENTS FIRSTAs a neuroscience and rehabilitation center of excellence, Fort Sanders Regional is committed to providing the latest advancements for neurological care, including stereotactic neurosurgery and neuro-interventional radiology. When coupled with the comprehensive services of the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Hospital (a joint venture hospital with Encompass Health at Fort Sanders Regional) and the Patricia Neal Outpatient Center (a department of Fort Sanders Regional), the neuroscience and rehabilitation programs provide services to optimize clinical and functional patient outcomes.Neurologic technology at the hospital includes an innovative 3D-imaging system that uses global positioning technology to give physicians real-time views inside the body without radiation, while facilitating less invasive and more precise surgeries. Fort Sanders Regional also offers diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.Fort Sanders Regional is designated by The Joint Commission as a Comprehensive Stroke and Rehabilitation Center of Excellence specializing in the acute management of strokes, including advanced treatment and research. Fort Sanders Regional is the hub of Covenant Health's stroke hospital network, which links Covenant Health's member hospitals in providing access to collaborative, rapid, advanced stroke care throughout our region. Fort Sanders Regional's award-winning Heart Center offers comprehensive cardiovascular services that span the continuum of heart care, from testing and advanced diagnostics to interventional technologies, cardiovascular surgeries, clinical trials and cardiac rehabilitation. In 2024, the hospital became the first in state to adopt a new revolutionary diagnostic technology that provides a 3D model of a patient's heart structure to help better identify blockages. In 2024, the hospital earned the following American Heart Association/American Stroke Association designations for excellence in stroke and heart care: - Get With The Guidelines - Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award- Mission: Lifeline - STEMI Gold Plus Receiving Quality Achiev
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 99% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 98.2%; rating input score 98
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 91.1%; rating input score 91; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95%; rating input score 95; 47th 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: -2.8%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.57; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.7%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 98.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 20 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $427.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $3.2M · 30 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10.1M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 31 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 22/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.