New Fast Pace clinic brings medical care back to Rocky Top
The interior of the Fast Pace medical clinic in Rocky Top, which opened Friday, Jan. 7. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Monday morning, there were several patients in the waiting room of the new facility.
Construction of the clinic began in mid-summer on the site at 510 N. Main St., across from Glenn’s Pizza, and was completed in mid-December. Because of staffing issues over the holidays, the opening date was delayed until last week.
For now, the clinic is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, but eventually will expand to operating 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, and 1-5 p.m. Sundays, said Chris Craig, senior director of marketing strategy for Franklin, Tennessee-based Fast Pace Health.
According to plans submitted to the city of Rocky Top, the company spent about $550,000 to build the 3,600-square-foot facility. The project was approved by the city’s Planning Commission during its June 2021 meeting, and the building permit was issued shortly thereafter.
The new building is on a formerly vacant lot next door to a motel and Mexican restaurant. That lot, measuring just under an acre, had been vacant since the 1990s, City Manager Michael Foster said.
Besides serving the local community with primary health care, Fast Pace will also cater to travelers on Interstate 75 who need urgent care as they drive through the area. Just off Exit 129, Fast Pace is the only urgent-care facility convenient to I-75 between southern Kentucky and I-75 Exit 122 in Clinton.
A new Tennova primary and urgent care clinic opened last year just off Exit 122, next to the Buddy’s bar-b-q in Clinton. Fast Pace also has an urgent-care clinic in Clinton, which opened near the Lewallen Bridge on S. Charles G. Seivers Boulevard in 2020.
According to its website (fastpacehealth.com), the company now has 160 walk-in clinic locations in Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Indiana. The clinics require no appointments, and accept most major health insurance plans, the website notes.
“Fast Pace Health’s ‘patient first’ mentality has guided its mission to provide convenient and compassionate care to the communities it serves,” the website says. “Since 2009, Fast Pace Health has grown from one clinic in Collinwood, TN to clinics throughout Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana and Indiana, with plans for future expansion.”
The website also notes that “Fast Pace Health clinics provide treatments for a wide range of illnesses, injuries, and common conditions and provide a variety of wellness, diagnostic, and screening services. … “Fast Pace Health offers patients the convenience of short wait times, daily urgent care services, and the ability to be seen by a primary care provider without an appointment.”
Besides accepting insurance, the clinics offer “affordable self-pay prices for uninsured patients,” and “Each Fast Pace Health clinic features multiple exam rooms, on-site lab testing, and X-ray capabilities,” the website explains.
The new Rocky Top clinic has its own Facebook page.