Cookeville Regional Medical Center Appoints Carrie Rice as Executive Director of Emergency Services

Cookeville Regional Medical Center (CRMC) announces the appointment of Carrie Rice as Executive Director of Emergency Services. Rice brings over 25 years of healthcare experience and a proven record of improving patient outcomes and experience in high-volume emergency settings. Her appointment reflects CRMC’s continued commitment to raising the standard of emergency care for every patient who walks through their doors.

Emergency departments (ED) nationwide are under significant strain. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the national median ED visit time in 2024 was 161 minutes and research from the University of Michigan found that long patient boarding times (time a patient stays in ED before being moved) are now “the most important driver of crowded conditions and long wait times in emergency departments” across the country. Tennessee’s Emergency Room’s (ER) reflect this national picture: the state’s average ER visit times rank well above the national median, placing Tennessee among the more challenged states in the Southeast for emergency care access.

“We continue to face challenges in healthcare and emergency services is no different. However, we want the best for our patients and their families. As a medical center we have a responsibility to continue to look at processes, quality, communication and strategize how to better serve our patients and we are working every day to do that,” said Buffy Key, Chief Executive Officer at CRMC.

Cookeville Regional’s 36-bed Emergency Department serves as the front door of care for over 46,000 patients and families in the region each year. Emergency Rooms visits are one of the most stressful experiences a person can face, and CRMC takes that responsibility seriously.

Over the past year, CRMC has invested meaningfully in the ER introducing new clinical protocols and technology as well as aesthetics to brighten up one of the older parts of the medical center. They hold a third-party contract with ApolloMD, the managing provider group for physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs), for the ER.

“We want to recognize that there is more work to do and that is precisely why this appointment matters. Our ED unit has 36-beds and, right now, we see around 124 on average a day. That increases greatly during the winter months. Our medical center cares about the people in this region, and we hear their needs and feedback. We look forward to the expertise that Carrie will bring to CRMC alongside our ED leadership team,” said Amy Rich, Chief Clinical Officer, Cookeville Regional Medical Center.

Carrie Rice joins CRMC with over 10 years of leadership in hospital emergency services. Most recently, she served as Director of Patient Care Services Emergency Services and Observation Unit at Tucson Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, where she oversaw a 79-bed Adult ER, 14-bed Pediatric ER, and 18-bed Observation Unit, one of the 49th busiest emergency departments in the nation. There, her team reduced ER length of stay by 18%, improving patient likelihood to recommend scores from 48% to 68%, and cutting RN turnover from 42% to 19%. Prior to that, she served as Director of the Emergency Department (ED) at Baptist Health, Baptist East in Montgomery, Alabama, where she reduced door-to-provider times from 48 to 30 minutes and pioneered the system’s first adoption of virtual nursing technology. She has also held director and management roles at Alameda Health System in Oakland, California, and spent 15 years at Huntsville Hospital System in Alabama, where she rose from ED Technician to Emergency Department Manager.

“I am honored to join the CRMC team and to serve the patients and families of this community. I know that emergency care is deeply personal and people come to us on some of the hardest days of their lives. My focus will be on building on the work already underway here, listening to our patients and our staff, and making sure every person who comes through our doors feels seen, heard, and well cared for. My motto is exceptional care with compassion, which aligns beautifully with CRMC’s visions and values,” said Carrie Rice, Executive Director of Emergency Services.