Three years ago, Grady Health System in Atlanta was getting thousands of 911 calls from people with mental health problems. Some were calling up to 30 times a month for emergency help. A large majority of these people were transported by ambulance to the Grady Memorial Hospital ER, said Michael Colman, vice president of EMS…
Healthcare Georgia Foundation has announced fourth-quarter grant awards to 20 nonprofit organizations totaling almost $1.5 million. The grants include funding to three evidence-based approaches to infant mortality prevention that target adverse birth outcomes in Valdosta, Clayton County and Albany. Citing the closures of hospitals and an emerging health care crisis in rural Georgia, Healthcare Georgia…
In a growing state where health-related news is happening every day, it was hard to whittle down the list. Give us your thoughts. 1. Jimmy Carter diagnosed with cancer The former U.S. president, the only Georgian ever to hold the office, announced in August that he had melanoma. But after treatment at Emory, the 91-year-old Carter,…
A northwest Georgia hospital that closed its doors Dec. 4 may reopen after all. Media reports Monday said a U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved a management agreement between Hutcheson Medical Center in Fort Oglethorpe and ApolloMD, based in Atlanta. ApolloMD will pay $4.2 million in cash for Hutcheson, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press….
The new leader of Emory University’s various health entities sees his appointment as “a great opportunity.” Dr. Jonathan S. Lewin has been named executive vice president for health affairs, Emory announced Thursday. Lewin, a Johns Hopkins executive, also will serve as executive director for Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center. And he will become the new…
The federal government is cutting payments to 30 Georgia hospitals for high levels of infections and patient injuries. Of those hospitals, 16 were penalized last year for the same problems. The new Medicare crackdown on hospital-acquired infections and preventable injuries is similar to the existing federal penalties on excessive numbers of readmissions of patients within…
Hutcheson Medical Center closed its doors to patients Friday morning, after being unable to strike a deal to avoid a shutdown. The northwest Georgia hospital’s closure came after months under bankruptcy protection. A last-minute bid by California-based Prime Healthcare to purchase the Fort Oglethorpe hospital failed to win approval from Hutcheson’s creditors. Hospital CEO Farrell…
A Fulton County judge Wednesday rejected a state motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by two ob/gyns to overturn Georgia’s health care regulatory process. But Judge T. Jackson Bedford Jr. also allowed the state attorney general’s office to appeal his decision immediately to an appellate court. Cartersville physicians Hugo Ribot and Malcolm Barfield argue, in…
WellStar Health System announced Tuesday that it had agreed to buy Tenet Healthcare’s five metro Atlanta hospitals for $575 million. The deal, if approved by regulators, would make Marietta-based WellStar easily the largest health system in the state of Georgia. WellStar would acquire North Fulton Hospital in Roswell, Spalding Regional Hospital in Griffin, Sylvan Grove…
Nathan Copp, 24, recently came to the Piedmont Fayette Hospital’s ER complaining that he felt tired, short of breath and lightheaded. Copp, who has the inflammatory bowel ailment known as Crohn’s disease, also told Dr. Robin Lowman, an emergency room physician, that he’d been having some chills. As Lowman examined him, she dictated her observations…