Search Results for “Habersham ”

Facing ‘worst ever’ demand for nurses, some hospitals offering unprecedented bonuses

May 27, 2021 Andy Miller

One sign of the severity of Georgia’s nurse shortage can be seen in the bonuses offered to experienced RNs to join a hospital workforce. Some health systems in the state are paying bonuses of more than $10,000 to attract nurses. And Piedmont Healthcare, which is rapidly becoming Georgia’s biggest health system, said it has offered bonuses…

Medicare penalties hit U.S. hospitals hard, including in Georgia

October 28, 2021 Andy Miller

Medicare is reducing payments to nearly half of the nation’s hospitals for excessive patient readmissions, including 81 in Georgia, Kaiser Health News reported Thursday. The total penalized in Georgia represent 55 percent of the state’s hospitals, higher than the national average of 47 percent. But if you remove facilities that are exempt from penalties from…

Georgia may add teachers to vaccine priority list

February 19, 2021 Andy Miller

Georgia educators may be next in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday that state officials will be finalizing plans over the next two weeks to expand the list of people eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine. His remarks on vaccine eligibility focused on educators, suggesting that teachers and other school…

Why does telehealth fail to catch on in some schools?

January 22, 2020 Georgia Health News

By Crysta Jones and Andy Miller Habersham County has a high uninsured rate, with 12 percent of its children lacking health coverage. The mountainous northeast Georgia county also has a low number of primary care physicians and mental health providers. For those reasons and others, a school-based telemedicine program would seem like a natural fit…

State COVID-19 toll jumps within hours; sterilizing facilities get regulatory break

March 26, 2020 Andy Miller

In just seven hours, the state toll from coronavirus jumped significantly. As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, 47 Georgians had died from coronavirus, up from 40 reported at noon. The total number of cases increased from 1,247 to 1,387 over that time. The death rate from confirmed cases in Georgia remains at 3 percent. The hardest-hit…

Rural hospitals: A new crisis on top of the old one

March 22, 2020 Andy Miller

Georgia’s rural hospitals have faced financial challenges for a long time. Even the recent economic boom was not enough to pull them out of the ditch. Now things may get even worse. The COVID-19 pandemic is both a medical crisis and an economic shock, and in Georgia, the state’s most vulnerable hospitals could bear a…

Closed hospital makes comeback as part of ambitious strategy

July 23, 2019 Andy Miller

A closed rural hospital has reopened with a new name and a plan for a bigger development. The former Chestatee Regional Hospital in Dahlonega, the seat of Lumpkin County, is now Northeast Georgia Medical Center Lumpkin. It’s a scaled-down facility that offers an emergency department, inpatient care and other services. It’s part of the Northeast…

Northeast Georgia investing $15 million into Habersham hospital

May 22, 2019 Gainesville Times

The Northeast Georgia Health System will be investing $15 million of their penny shares UK funds in Habersham Medical Center with hopes of buying the hospital after five years. Read the full article: Gainesville Times

Anthem faces contract standoff, launches new health plan in Georgia

August 30, 2019 Andy Miller

September is shaping up as a worrisome time for thousands of Georgia patients. Consumers are being notified that on Sept. 30, the contract between the state’s largest health insurer, Anthem, and Northeast Georgia Health System is due to expire. That would make Northeast Georgia’s Gainesville hospital and other facilities out of network for Anthem members, who…

Gainesville-based system warns of potential break with Anthem

June 4, 2019 Andy Miller

Northeast Georgia Health System has sent letters to 40,000 patients, warning them that its contract with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield may end Sept. 30 without a new agreement. The Gainesville-based system said that Anthem is seeking “drastic cuts’’ in payments for medical services. Anthem is making decisions on local networks from its Indianapolis…