Tens of millions of dollars in business and individual donations have gone to Georgia rural hospitals this year, thanks to a popular state tax credit program. But how hospitals are spending that money this year has not been officially tracked, the state says. And right now, there apparently isn’t publicly available information on how much…
Hospitals can receive Medicare penalties if too many of their patients are readmitted within a month of their discharge. And recently released federal data show that 85 percent of such facilities in Georgia are set to be penalized. The readmission penalties, created by the Affordable Care Act, have brought increased scrutiny to the care of patients…
The state’s main health care agency is requesting $72.9 million in additional funding for the current fiscal year (FY 2019, which runs through next June 30), and $195.8 million more for fiscal 2020. The board of the Department of Community Health approved the budget requests at a meeting Thursday. The proposal now goes to the governor’s office,…
The farm bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives proposes changes to the food stamp program that alarm groups representing people with disabilities. “Food insecurity’’ – the lack of reliable access to nutritious food – disproportionately affects people living with disabilities, according to a new GHN Commentary. “Households that include adults with disabilities experience a…
People living with disabilities in Georgia face many obstacles, including higher-than-average unemployment rates, lower-than-average incomes and costly medical expenses. It is little wonder that food insecurity disproportionately affects such people. Food insecurity refers to a lack of reliable, consistent access to nutritious food. In many cases, that means people are unable to afford all the…
The enterprise is nestled inside a nondescript office complex in Gwinnett County. No signage proclaims the nature of what’s behind the front door, and inside, there’s little in terms of furnishings or décor. Despite this unassuming façade, the Norcross office is the base for an operation that’s helping an increasing number of Georgians afford their…
Georgia DFCS will have its third leader in less than a year, after Gov. Nathan Deal announced Friday a new interim director for the agency. Tom Rawlings, currently the director of the Office of the Child Advocate, will take over as interim chief of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services on Aug. 1. He will replace Virginia…
Belinda Jones had to deal with her landlord saying she owed back rent. Then there was the sewage regularly bubbling up in the sinks and drains of her southwest Atlanta apartment. A rug was filled with mold. Residents of the apartment complex, citing their constant fear of violence, recently pointed out bullet holes in outside…
Dr. Hany Atallah of Grady Memorial Hospital saw a patient Monday who had flu symptoms. This possible flu sufferer — who also happened to be a Grady employee — showed that the disease can still appear, weeks after it reached its peak. Still, for Atallah, Grady’s chief of emergency medicine, the encounter appeared as a sort of…
Two recent surveys point to an expected but troubling trend: The U.S. rate of uninsured people is rising. And the increase may continue into next year. The Commonwealth Fund on Tuesday released a survey of working-age Americans that found that 15.5 percent were estimated to lack health insurance coverage as of February and March 2018. That’s up from…