Perinatal Advisory Committee approves regionalization and transportation guidelines

The Tennessee Perinatal Advisory Committee voted to approve updated regionalization and transportation guidelines following a roll-call voice vote in which no opposition was raised. Committee leaders thanked volunteer chairs and Tennessee Department of Health staff for months of work on the documents.

Committee members called votes by name during the roll call. The meeting record shows an affirmative vote from Katie Keshan, Dr. Edmonson, Dr. Garrison, Scott Guthrie, Dr. Goodingtime, Mary Lee Lemley, Dr. Nelson, Dr. Steedinger, Dr. Salati, Dr. Paz, Dr. Vazconke, Wolf, Erin Hejka and Dr. Brackney. After tabulating votes, the chair announced that the regionalization guidelines had passed.

Members said the committee will continue to refine the full regionalization document; chairs reported two more review meetings scheduled for November 3 and November 17 to complete reformatting and finalize outstanding revisions. Committee leaders said the revisions are intended to make the documents consistent across care levels and to ensure they can be integrated with other regulatory changes affecting NICU licensure and facility planning.

Committee members also emphasized that volunteers have spent substantial time (more than 40 hours outside formal meetings in several cases) preparing the materials for review and that the committee wants to move the documents forward expeditiously because of concurrent changes in licensure and system planning for neonatal care.

The vote result and the committee’s schedule were announced on the record during the meeting.