Ernestine “Erma” Bryant likes her job, but the pay is a problem. She works in a caregiver role as a “direct support professional” in Tifton, helping people who have intellectual and developmental disabilities with basic functions such as dressing, bathing and eating. Bryant said it’s fulfilling work. “You can help people be successful — people…
Georgia had the third-highest number of people signing up for coverage during this year’s special enrollment period for the federally run health insurance exchanges. The state’s 147,000 enrollees were exceeded only by Florida and Texas among the 36 states that use the healthcare.gov enrollment platform, according to federal data recently released. Exchange enrollment — like open enrollment…
Georgia has a lot of great things going for it, including a vibrant economy. One thing that isn’t going very well is health care, according to a new GHN Commentary. Poverty, health disparities, physician shortages and a high level of uninsured people are some of the factors cited by Jack Bernard and Dr. Doug Skelton….
By Jack Bernard and Dr. Doug Skelton The results are in for all of America to see, and Georgia has finally made it . . . to very near the bottom of the pile. Shameful, but true. Georgia has a booming economy and is one of the fastest-growing states in the nation. Possibly, this is…
Across Georgia on Wednesday, dozens of hospitals were reporting severe ER crowding and various forms of “diversion ” — sending patients elsewhere due to capacity problems. The Delta variant of COVID-19, sweeping through the state, is rapidly increasing case numbers and hospitalizations. But exacerbating the current patient crunch is the ever-worsening shortage of health care…
By Rebecca Grapevine Georgia is in line to recover $500 million from state Medicaid insurers for overpayments in 2020 and 2021, according to an insurance industry official who represents the companies. The half-billion-dollar payout will come from two separate Medicaid recoveries, said Jesse Weathington, the executive director of the Georgia Quality Healthcare Association. Due to the…
By Jeremy Redmon This article is reprinted with permission from the AJC. Since it opened in 2015, the Clarkston Community Health Center has attracted long lines of impoverished patients, at times becoming so busy that it has been forced to turn some away. The volunteer-run nonprofit has provided free care to more than 5,500 immigrants, refugees…
Compared with other states, Georgia has a stunningly low rate of referring poor children to specialty services under Medicaid, according to a recently released report. The health screenings of Medicaid kids and the subsequent “corrective treatments’’ are required under the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) program. The goal of EPSDT is to…
Grady Memorial Hospital ranks first, and Piedmont Hospital last, in a report rating the 10 largest nonprofit Atlanta/Athens area hospitals on their spending on charity care and other community health initiatives. The “Fair Share’’ ranking, from the Lown Institute, was released this week and has already generated controversy. The rankings compared a hospital’s charity care…
There’s no real profile for the victims. They don’t appear to fit into any particular economic, racial or ethnic grouping. The rising numbers of opioid overdoses “seem to hit everyone,’’ says Dr. Dan McCollum, an emergency medicine physician at Augusta University Medical Center. “It hits all economic strata.’’ Even age is no longer the factor it…