WellStar Kennestone Hospital announced Monday that it has received state designation as a Level 2 trauma center. The state approval makes the hospital the only trauma facility in the heavily populated northwest Atlanta suburbs. “This is an important day for not only WellStar but, more importantly, the residents of northwest Georgia as they now have…
Eight years ago, accountant Charles Rehberg and a local physician started sending anonymous faxes to business and political leaders in Albany, criticizing the financial practices of a local hospital. This week, a case that began with that flurry of faxes landed in the U.S. Supreme Court. As a legal matter, Rehberg v. Paulk concerns the…
Here’s an update of recent developments in Georgia health care, plus some good news for certain health facilities in the state: ** Federal inspectors left Grady Memorial Hospital last week, concluding their “unannounced’’ visit to the Atlanta safety-net hospital. The inspection occurred after a patient fell to her death from an 11th-floor hospital window Sept….
A suburban turf war between two hospital systems took another regulatory turn Tuesday, with WellStar Health System announcing that a state agency had approved its ambulatory surgery center project. WellStar’s surgery center, part of its proposed “Health Park’’ complex in east Cobb County, had been opposed by Northside Hospital. “This is a milestone decision for…
Northside Hospital announced Thursday that state regulators have given a “green light’’ to its plan to relocate its Cherokee County facility. The Department of Community Health has agreed that the $250 million project is exempt from certificate-of-need (CON) laws, Northside said in a press release. A DCH spokeswoman late Thursday confirmed the agency approval to…
A team of inspectors arrived this week at Atlanta’s Grady Memorial Hospital to conduct a federal survey of its care systems. The action comes in the wake of a patient’s death in a fall from an 11th-floor window. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is conducting the survey to make sure Grady meets…
A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court in Atlanta heard arguments Wednesday on whether a proposed purchase of an Albany hospital would violate antitrust law or is exempt from such regulatory scrutiny. The proposed $195 million acquisition of Palmyra Medical Center by the Albany-Dougherty County Hospital Authority, originally announced in December, has drawn fierce…
A federal agency told Grady Memorial Hospital officials this week that it will conduct an unannounced survey of the Atlanta safety-net facility in the wake of a patient’s death in a fall from an 11th-floor window. The visit, which could occur at any time, is to ensure that Grady meets the Centers for Medicare and…
Behind the regulatory battle between Northside Hospital and WellStar Health System that heated up this week lies a competition for affluent patients in Atlanta’s northern suburbs. Those suburbs have attractive features for a large health system: plenty of people with good insurance, and projections of further population growth. WellStar, which dominates Cobb, Paulding and Douglas…
The Georgia Board of Dentistry on Friday rejected a proposed rule that public health officials feared would have restricted dental hygienists’ work with low-income patients. Several health groups had said the provision, if approved, would require a dentist to examine a patient before a hygienist can apply sealants, clean teeth and perform other preventive dental…