CRMC Budget Includes New MRI Unit, Equipment Upgrades

Cookeville Regional Medical Center’s 2019-2020 budget will include several upgrades and new additions to the hospital’s campus.

Hospital CEO Paul Korth said the $276 million budget comes with equipment upgrades for nursing staff and patient treatment.

“We’re looking at adding an MRI unit for about $1.7 million,” Korth said. “Under nursing administration, there’s three large items here: Our ‘Phase II’ for our Nihon Kohden monitoring system, our [nursing] call system, and replacing a numerous number of beds kind of on an annual basis.”

The MRI unit, nursing call system, patient monitors, and 36 new beds are estimated to cost just under $6 million in total.

The hospital’s finance committee discussed the budget on April 23 before being approved by the Board of Trustees last Thursday.

Korth said nearly half of the hospital’s $4.15 million in expansion and innovation projects have already been approved, including $850,000 for pharmacy hazardous waste compounding.

“The $850,000 was already approved for the USP (United States Pharmacopeia),” Korth said. “The MRI has been approved already… ‘Phase II’ has not been approved, ‘Phase I’ has been approved, and that total project is going to be $4.2 million.”

The budget will need to be approved by Cookeville City Council to become official. Korth said he expects Council to discuss the proposal during this month’s budget discussions with approval likely in June.