Covenant Health
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- Raising each dollar of donations cost 183 cents.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
Covenant Health supports its member hospitals and other organizations (see Schedule A) serve the community by improving the quality of life through better health, regardless of a patient's ability to pay.
- Income
- $235.7 million
- Spending
- $203.0 million
- Spent on programs
- 88%
- Reserves
- 49.7 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 73%
- Employees
- 1,587
- Volunteers
- 19
- Highest pay
- $3.2 million, president & ceo
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 70 out of 100. Higher than 59% of charities in its peer group (health care, over $100m).
Reserves
35 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 49.7 months of spending.
Debt
5 of 20It owes 55% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 14% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 14% on the year before.
Spending floor
0 of 1588% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 183 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 52% of charities in its peer group (health care, over $100m).
Independent board
25 of 2519 of 20 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $178.1 million spent. Covenant Health is a community-owned, clinically integrated healthcare enterprise dedicated to being the region's premier healthcare network through service, community and innovation. Our mission is to improve the quality of life in our region through better health. Covenant Health provides patient-centered care that inspires clinical and service excellence and strives to be the first and best choice for the communities we serve. Established in 1996 by the consolidation of Fort Sanders Health System, Knoxville, Tennessee, and MMC HealthCare System in Oak Ridge, Covenant Health is governed by a voluntary board of directors composed of community leaders and medical professionals. With more than 11,000 employees, affiliated physicians and volunteers, Covenant Health is the Knoxville area's largest employer and has been named a top employer by Forbes and Becker's Hospital Review. Covenant Health serves a 25-county area and includes nine acute care hospitals in East Tennessee: Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and Parkwest Medical Center in Knoxville, Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, Fort Loudoun Medical Center in Lenoir City, LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville, Morristown-Hamblen Healthcare System in Morristown, Roane Medical Center in Harriman, Claiborne Medical Center in Tazewell and Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville. It also includes Peninsula, a division of Parkwest Medical Center. Peninsula provides behavioral health services at an inpatient hospital in Blount County and at outpatient locations in Knox, Blount, Loudon, and Sevier counties. The health system includes Covenant Medical Group, which serves patients at more than 90 office and clinic locations. CMG providers include primary care physicians and specialists in areas such as cardiology, gastroenterology, neurology, surgery, and other medical specialties. Covenant Health employs nearly 450 physicians and advanced practice clinicians throughout East Tennessee. Affiliated organizations include Thompson Cancer Survival Center, Thompson Oncology Group, Fortress Corporation and Subsidiaries, Covenant HomeCare, and Fort Sanders Perinatal Center. Covenant Health also operates Thompson Proton Center and offers innovative services such as Advanced Care at Home. Philanthropic organizations include Covenant Health Foundation and Thompson Cancer Survival Center Foundation in Knoxville, Methodist Medical Center Foundation in Oak Ridge, Dr. Robert F. Thomas Foundation in Sevierville, and Morristown-Hamblen Hospital Foundation in Morristown. Funds raised by the foundations provide services, equipment and other resources to enhance patient care.SERVICECovenant Health's various system-level divisions operationally support and facilitate the health system's not-for-profit mission of improving the region's quality of life through better health. These divisions include information technology, business office and health information management, along with system-wide departments such as human resources, learning and leadership development, and others. Information Technology The Information Technology (CovIT) division of Covenant Health provides all computing equipment, information management solutions, and related support services to Covenant Health business entities across 9 acute care hospitals, a behavioral health hospital, 95 physician practices/clinics, and corporate operational support areas. Information management systems and related application support services (install, upgrade, help desk) services are available on a 24/7 basis spanning healthcare functions across core patient-care clinical systems, physician, nursing, and associated ancillary systems (lab, radiology, pharmacy, therapy), as well as supporting business functions comprising patient accounting, materials management, finance, and human resources. CovIT also provides project management support related to analyzing, understanding and implementing solutions to satisfy regulatory and quality reporting requirements. While Cerner provides remote hosting of the core clinical applications, CovIT has primary support for the respective clinical applications and also manages a centralized data center (as well as a backup disaster recovery data center) where hardware equipment is housed. This combination of remote-hosted and on-premise infrastructure enables the delivery of computing resources for all Covenant Health clinical/business functions on a 24/7 schedule. Additionally, CovIT is responsible for management of all PC workstations (desktop, laptop, tablets/iPads, mobile cart), all client-to-server internal and external network connectivity, and telephone services and equipment (PBX, handsets, cell phones, pagers) across the company. Key statistics for 2024 include: - In-patient admissions - 79,854 - Total orders - 24,090,883 - Total pharmacy orders - 8,929,463 - Total secure clinical text messages - 3,828,708 - Total Tele-ICU Interactions - 76,640 - Acute Virtual Health interactions - 43,139 - Total Informatics Education trained - 4,042 - Accounts payable checks - 126,276 - Payroll checks/deposits - 276,249 - Helpdesk tickets processed - 202,938 - PCs supported - 11,917 - Total email messages received - 28,694,200 - Total email rejected (viruses and spam) - 6,317,611 - Total Zoom stats: - Meetings - 19,779 - Participants - 70,671 - Audio minutes - 1,899,577 - Total MS Teams stats: - Meetings - 47,941 - Participants - 42,734 - Audio minutes - 7,581,654 - Chats - 2,093,463 - Calls last 180 days - 18,975 - Overall telephone calls - 2,199,893 - Average monthly network access attempts blocked (reputation & foreign) - 2,042,072,655 Business Office Knoxville Business Office Services is the Centralized Business Office (CBO) for Covenant Health, providing accounts receivable management for Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center, Parkwest Medical Center, Fort Loudoun Medical Center, LeConte Medical Center, Methodist Medical Center, Morristown-Hamblen Hospital Association, Roane Me
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since October 1996.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.