Lawmakers push Health Facilities Commission to withdraw PET/MRI rule over staff influenza‑declination language; committee disapproves rule

A contentious portion of the day's agenda centered on a Health Facilities Commission rule that would place MRI and PET services under licensure and include infection‑control language establishing an annual influenza‑vaccination program for staff and signed declination statements.

Katie Thomas of the Health Facilities Commission said the rule sets minimum licensing standards and that the language was drafted with input from a technical advisory group composed of major hospitals and industry groups. Multiple legislators — and public commenters — raised constitutional, privacy and scope‑of‑authority concerns. Representative Fritz said the Fourth Amendment raises privacy issues and warned the declination statement "will be used against Tennesseeans again as they have been used in the past." Public commenter Britney Ruiz argued the rule "contradicts" statutory limits on conscience protections and urged the committee to act; Bernadette Pager raised scientific and scope objections and said the language “tends toward coercion.”

After extended debate about whether the declination requirement is programmatic or individual and whether the agency had statutory authority to include vaccination policy, the committee voted a negative recommendation and urged the Health Facilities Commission to withdraw and redraft the rule. Chairman Reedy said he would "make a negative recommendation on these rules urging the department to withdraw the rules and reconsider them later." The committee recorded an affirmative disapproval and the department committed to consider the committee's concerns.