CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – A local urgent care center in Clarksville has been shut down for weeks while employees go without paychecks and access to electronic medical records.
The doors to Advance Care Medical (ACM), 1469 Tiny Town Road, have been closed since Nov. 16, and, according to employees, the shutdown followed weeks without paychecks. And the corporate office has remained silent.
The company
ACM is one of three healthcare divisions owned by Healthcare Solutions Management Group, Inc. (HSMD), a publicly traded company. The other divisions are HSH Surgical and HSH Medical Services.
The medical group has multiple locations across Tennessee and northern Illinois, and more had been promised. One of those locations is Clarksville, which officially opened its doors to the public in June. According to their website, ACM is a comprehensive urgent care clinic serving families, individuals and veterans. The center offers primary care services in addition to on-site specialists who can offer referrals for permanent, long-term patient care.
According to ACM employees, those working out of that office haven’t been paid for time worked since Oct. 1.
“We have not been paid for eight weeks,” an ACM employee told Clarksville Now, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We tried to stay open for patients because we do not want to be responsible for patient abandonment. Our providers and our staff are extremely dedicated to the community, and we love being here for them, but we have to feed our families, so we had to temporarily close.”
The employees don’t want to resign because of patient abandonment concerns, and they can’t collect unemployment because they haven’t been terminated.
Several employees shared the same information, shown also in communications they shared from company leaders. The company ended employee non-payroll benefits on Oct. 4, according to records obtained by Clarksville Now.
Employees claim that the company paid them in part over the last week using Zelle and Cash App. In doing so, the company hasn’t provided pay stubs, and employees haven’t had taxes deducted from those payments. Further, the office currently has no time clock and relies on cameras to calculate hours.
The ACM corporate office attributed the delay in paychecks to “corporate finance restructuring,” according to multiple employees.
Clarksville Now has reached out to ACM corporate and HSMD for comment.
ACM bills
The decision to close the office was made by management at the local clinic. The source said the corporate office responded by saying they would get checks out as soon as they could, but that they understood why the decision to close was made.
Employees at ACM explained that the clinic still offers medication refills; however, they no longer have access to electronic medical records, which has affected nearly every service they offer. “They (ACM corporate) haven’t paid that bill, so we can’t even, if we wanted to, see patients without pay.”
Employees also claimed the corporate office previously failed to pay utility bills, resulting in electricity and water being shut off. At one point, employees said the water had been shut off for about a week, resulting in another temporary closure.
Many employees had to take on part-time jobs to make up for the loss of income. Some who have missed housing and car payments are now at risk of losing their homes and vehicles.
Additionally, employees don’t have a way to prove their income. Many have had to borrow money from friends and relatives.
“We don’t even have paystubs for the paychecks to be able to get a loan to be able to make it through this time with our families,” said one employee.
Employees: ‘We want them to know’
“It’s just gotten to the point where we don’t know what to do anymore, but we don’t want the community to think it’s our fault. This is completely out of our control, and we have tried to stay silent and not put corporate in a bad light, but the community is getting more and more frustrated with the fact that we are not open, and we want them to know what all is going on here.”
Employees told Clarksville Now they are working in the office 8 a.m. to noon each day to provide what services they can for the existing patients.
Documents obtained by Clarksville Now show several employees have reached out to the corporation, only to be met with silence or statements claiming the checks are on their way.
On Oct. 27, an employee at ACM asked the corporation when they could expect to see paychecks. The reply indicated an internal problem with the company; however, Clarksville Now has been unable to obtain any additional information.
“I can’t ask anyone to stay or even believe in us anymore. Things haven’t gone our way. And it’s not fault of yours! You guys’ rock. We messed up,” said HSMD Chairman and Interim CEO/CFO Justin Smith in a text message to one employee.
Meanwhile, complaints have been filed with the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the Better Business Bureau.