What you need to operate in Tennessee

Facility licensing for a mobile clinic

Tennessee does not license a mobile clinic as a facility type. The Health Facilities Commission’s Division of Licensure and Regulation licenses or certifies 21 types of health care facilities (hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical treatment centers, laboratories and others); a mobile clinic is not among them, so a hospital-run unit operates under the hospital’s license and a practice-run unit under its practitioners’ licenses. No specific mobile-unit rule found on the agency’s site; confirm with the Commission at that link, and ask in particular whether an imaging unit meets its definition of an outpatient diagnostic center, which is a licensed category.

Certificate of need

Possible for imaging, not for primary care or dental. The Commission’s Certificate of Need basics page requires a certificate before establishing any health care institution, a list that includes outpatient diagnostic centers, and before starting magnetic resonance imaging or positron emission tomography services in a county of 175,000 or fewer people. Relocating an existing facility or service is also reviewed. Primary care, dental and screening mammography are not on the list; check before adding MRI or PET to a vehicle.

X-ray and mammography registration

Any unit carrying an X-ray, dental X-ray or mammography machine registers it with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Division of Radiological Health. Its X-Ray Registration page states that “Persons having possession of any radiation machine or accelerator are required to register.” Register before the unit works in Tennessee and ask the section how it lists a vehicle that changes location.

In every state, a unit that performs mammography must also hold a federal certificate under the Mammography Quality Standards Act before it examines its first patient. The FDA’s MQSA certification page sets out the order: accreditation by an FDA-approved body first, then the certificate, then annual inspection. In Tennessee the FDA itself issues the certificate.

Mobile dental permits

Tennessee regulates the mobile dental clinic by rule rather than by a separate permit. Rule 0460-01-.14, Mobile Dental Clinics, in the Board of Dentistry’s general rules (September 2023 revision), says a mobile dental clinic may be owned or operated only by a Tennessee-licensed dentist, a state or local government agency, a nonprofit organization or a hospital. The clinic must have a dental treatment chair and light, a radiographic unit with processing equipment, a delivery system, an evacuation unit suitable for surgical use, equipment to treat medical emergencies and sufficient instruments and infection-control supplies; access to a working sterilization system, potable hot and cold water and toilet facilities; a covered non-corrosive refuse container; a ramp or lift where disabled patients are treated; and every applicable county and city license or permit. The driver must hold a license appropriate to the vehicle with no motor-vehicle violations in the last three years. School-based prevention programs that provide only screenings, education, fluoride and sealants are exempt from the X-ray, evacuation and emergency-equipment items.

Vehicle

The dental rule above is the only vehicle-side item found: a driver with a valid operator’s license appropriate for the type of vehicle and a clean three-year record. No other Tennessee rule specific to operating a mobile clinic vehicle was found on the agency pages checked.