The location for Fentress County’s stand-alone UT Medical Emergency Room is up for a vote on Monday night.
County Executive Jimmy Johnson said that bids were opened Thursday and the building will be in Jamestown. Johnson said the Monday night decision is to either accept a purchase or long-term lease on the building.
“If it passes the commission, the next day it will go into an agreement with the University of Tennessee Medical Center,” Johnson said. “To do the process of sending things onto CMS, and so we’ll go from there.”
If approved, UT Medical Center would provide equipment and supplies for the emergency room. Once a location is secured, officials must ask Medicare and Medicaid for a change in its policy.
Currently, a stand alone emergency room can not be established more than 30 miles from the transferring facility. Jamestown sits 90 miles from UT Medical Center.