Smoky Mountain Urgent Care to vacate facility at end of month
Robbinsville – Graham County commissioners are in final negotiations with a physician to take over urgent-care services, after Bryson City-based Smoky Mountain Urgent Care closes its Robbinsville practice at the end of this month.
Along with urgent care project manager Juanita Colvard, the board of commissioners met with Dr. David Booth – a Mississippi-based osteopath and part-time resident of Nantahala – in closed session at the Graham County Transportation Department conference room on Monday evening.
Board Chairman Jacob Nelms characterized it as final negotiations, but that no decision had been reached Monday.
Because of the confidential nature of the negotiation – an exception allowed under state open-meeting laws – details of contract negotiations are confidential until finalized. County officials are hoping to have Booth in place by the end of January or early February.
Smoky Mountain Urgent Care, owned by Dr. David Castor, had three contracts with the county: urgent-care services with weekend and late hours, imaging services and inmate care at the county jail. In the end, Castor was providing urgent care services with weekend and late hours that fell short of contractual expectations.
Colvard has been in communication with other medical professionals about providing both urgent care and imaging services in the county’s building at 21 S. Main St. in Robbinsville.
Smoky Mountain Urgent Care will close its Robbinsville practice at the end of January, ending a year-long conflict between the provider and its landlord, Graham County Government.
The Bryson City-based clinic declined to appeal an August court decision that found it was in breach of contract with the county for hours of operation the county required in the lease.
The judgment was filed on Dec. 2, 2022 and the clinic had until Jan. 3 to appeal.
Once it became clear that Castor was not going to appeal, the county moved forward in making arrangements with other medical professionals.
“The Commissioners and their representatives will work diligently to do this as quickly and seamlessly as possible,” the county said in a prepared statement.
From the beginning of the Graham County Board of Commissioners’ efforts to bring much-needed urgent care and imaging services to the county, it has been their goal to facilitate convenient and reliable care for county residents and visitors, according to the county’s statement.
“These efforts included obtaining grants for the purchase of imaging equipment (including CT, mammogram, and 3-D ultrasound) and upfitting the county’s building at 21 S. Main St. in Robbinsville to house the equipment and provide space for its operation,” according to the statement.
Smoky Mountain Urgent Care posted a notice on its front entrance on Dec. 29, announcing its departure from the facility.