Website data for some Ga. hospitals are flat wrong

Website data for some Ga. hospitals are flat wrong

One thousand, one hundred and fifteen minutes. That’s 18.5 hours. It’s not much time in the grand scheme of things. But it’s a very long time for a person who arrives in an ER to have to wait before being sent home. The 1,115-minute figure is reported on a public federal website as the average…

State says ‘no’ to standalone emergency facility

State says ‘no’ to standalone emergency facility

A proposal to build Georgia’s first freestanding emergency department has been rejected by state regulators. But this week’s decision by Department of Community Health reviewers may not close the door to other proposals to build standalone emergency departments – which unlike traditional emergency rooms are not physically located at hospitals. Two hospitals in Augusta are…

Life sciences a growing sector in Georgia

Life sciences a growing sector in Georgia

2012 is shaping up as a robust year for the state’s life sciences industry. The biggest splash came with the April announcement that Baxter International will build a $1 billion biopharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Stanton Springs, east of Atlanta, that will employ 1,500 people. Charles Craig, president of Georgia Bio, an industry association, added Wednesday…

Kaiser rated tops again in commercial health plans

Kaiser rated tops again in commercial health plans

Kaiser Permanente has once again been ranked No. 1 among Georgia’s commercial health plans by a major accrediting organization. It’s the eighth consecutive year that Kaiser Permanente Georgia has been rated tops in the state by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The NCQA, a leading managed care accrediting body, evaluates health plans based…

Telemedicine making big difference for society’s smallest victims

A 9-year-old girl in rural Georgia discloses the unthinkable: sexual abuse by her stepfather. The case is referred to police and local child welfare officials, who contact the Stephanie V. Blank Center for Safe and Healthy Children. A doctor soon conducts a physical examination and speaks with the child. What makes this story different is…

Accountability drug and mental health courts are operating in Jackson County, among the more than 100 such courts across the state.

For drug and mental health courts, accountability is key (video)

This May, four Barrow County residents were the first graduates of the county’s new accountability drug court. At the ceremony, each stood before family and friends, public officials, and fellow drug court participants to tell their story. In the past, substance abusers and the mentally ill were treated the same as other offenders: They were…

Analyzing the future of health reform law

Analyzing the future of health reform law

Fifty-fifty. Those are the odds given by a prominent Atlanta attorney that the Supreme Court will uphold the 2010 health reform law. He gives the same odds that the justices will strike down the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in its entirety or part of the law that includes its controversial mandate for most individuals to…

New group gains role in state’s Medicaid planning

New group gains role in state’s Medicaid planning

A task force working with state officials on restructuring Medicaid has given rise to a new group — one that’s specifically concerned with mental health and substance abuse issues. Members of the new group say it offers them an unusual opportunity to help shape requirements for what is likely to be a huge state health…

5 health centers get $11 million from feds

5 health centers get $11 million from feds

Five Georgia community health centers will receive a total of $11 million in grants to expand and improve their services, the federal government announced Tuesday. The Georgia money is part of $728 million nationally that will go to hundreds of community health centers across the country, under the 2010 health reform law. A Stone Mountain…

Team approach may help fill gaps in primary care

Team approach may help fill gaps in primary care

The future of primary care can look downright frightening. Georgia and the rest of the nation already have a general shortage of obstetricians, internists, pediatricians and family medicine doctors, especially in rural and urban areas. And things are getting worse. The Health Resources and Services Administration forecasts a shortage of 65,000 primary care physicians in…