Plane formerly owned partially by Wellmont Health System traveled to St. Louis 57 times

Wellmont Health System no longer has partial ownership of a private plane, but federal flight records reveal when it did, that plane traveled to the St. Louis area at least 57 times since 2010.

Wellmont sold its share of the plane around the same time former CEO Denny DeNarvaez abruptly resigned. The health system previously said the sale and the resignation were not connected.

At our request, the Federal Aviation Administration provided us with the plane's flight records. Those public records reveal since 2010, the plane flew from Tri-Cities Regional Airport to St. Louis 57 times, with most of the flights occurring on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Those flights account for almost 12% of all of the plane's flights from the Tri-Cities during that time and the numbers do not include the 59 trips from St. Louis back to TCRA.

When reached by phone for comment Tuesday, DeNarvaez continued to maintain the plane was used efficiently and per company policy.

"I was not taking the plane for reasons that were for me," DeNarvaez said. "I was taking the plane for the reasons of company business. It's been well reviewed, audited, under compliance, you name it. The board has so fully looked into this."

Although several top executives at Wellmont had personal ties to St. Louis, DeNarvaez maintains Wellmont had business reasons to be there.

"We had several vendors in St. Louis," she said.

She continued to say on the rare occasions her husband traveled with her, she covered the taxable fringe benefit.

Wellmont was one of six owners of the plane, so there is no way to tell for sure who was on the plane when it was in the air.

The plane flew from the Tri-Cities to St. Louis more than anywhere else except for Teterboro Airport in the New York-New Jersey area. Records reveal the plane traveled there 63 times.

"Wellmont Health System has strong policies and practices in place for audit and compliance that apply to every level of our organization," the organization said in a statement. "Those policies and practices were applied to usage of the plane, in which Wellmont no longer has an ownership interest, and they are applied to every aspect of our business. These issues have been covered sufficiently, and there is nothing new to discuss. Questions being asked about our former CEO don't relate to the current business concerns of Wellmont, as she has not been employed by the health system for nearly two months now. Wellmont is keenly focused, under the leadership of our interim president and CEO, on the delivery of superior care with compassion to our patients and on the bright future of our organization."

- Source: http://www.wjhl.com