Hospitals tackle uncompensated care costs

ATLANTA – Georgia’s hospitals continue to be a major economic force in spite of growing uncompensated care costs statewide, according to a new report.

An annual report from the Georgia Hospital Association, an advocacy group, concluded that hospitals in the state contributed nearly $47.8 billion to the economy statewide in 2015.

Across the state, facilities collectively had more than 141,000 full-time employees on their payroll and indirectly created more than 344,000 jobs, with hospital purchases supporting medical supply businesses and others.

South Georgia Medical Center in Valdosta had 2,003 full-time employees in 2015, according to hospital spokeswoman Laura Love. More than 4,800 jobs were indirectly created by SGMC, the report says.

The hospital's Valdosta campus provided $23,206,976 in uncompensated care that year, $6.6 million less than in 2012. SGMC's two satellite campuses, in Berrien and Lanier counties, provided uncompensated care valued at $1,166,450 and $1,328,496, respectively, in 2015, according to the report.

In communities such as Moultrie, the hospital represents one of the largest employers. Colquitt Regional Medical Center had 1,114 employees in 2015, with another 2,709 jobs indirectly created.
Yet, Colquitt Regional has also seen its uncompensated care grow to $11.5 million in 2015, which is a 37 percent jump since 2011.

Hospitals across the state provided more than $1.7 billion in services for which they were not paid in 2015.

“Throughout Georgia, hospitals are the only source of medical care for most uninsured residents,” Earl Rogers, the association’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Add to that a growing number of residents who actually have insurance but cannot pay their high insurance deductibles, and hospitals end up absorbing even more losses. These dynamics are not sustainable long term,” Rogers added.

A high rate of uninsured Georgians and a Medicaid reimbursement rate that does not cover a hospital’s actual costs have compounded the losses, according to the association.

About 42 percent of all Georgia hospitals reported they operated in the red in 2015, according to the report.

Rural hospitals were hit particularly hard, with 68 percent losing money. Six hospitals have shuttered since 2013, hampering local efforts to attract new industry and leaving residents traveling farther for medical care.

Colquitt Regional is among the minority of rural hospitals that reported a positive margin.

CEO Jim Matney said in an interview this week the hospital spends about $6 million a year on technology to keep the facility’s service offerings current and attractive to the community.

“What causes rural hospitals to close down is not the fact that they’re just rural,” Matney said. “But because they can’t keep up with the services that are being offered.

“For example, if you had to have your gall bladder taken out, would you want it done robotically and have one little stitch or would you rather them go ahead and open you all the way up? That’s a real scenario,” he added.

While South Georgia Medical Center's network as a whole finished in the black in 2015 with a 7.8 percent margin, the Lanier and Berrien campuses lost money, Love said. The Berrien campus lost $403,000, the Lanier campus lost 4165,000, and the Lakeland Villa — a nursing facility alongside the Lanier hospital facility — lost $310,000.

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