Georgia legislator tries noncash methods to help struggling rural hospitals
Jack Hill says the real answer is money, but the Georgia state senator will work any angle he can to boost the health of failing rural hospitals in his district.
The Democrat from the southeast part of the state got his fellow lawmakers last year to approve a hospital modernization grant program, but they didn’t free up the money to fund it. He says he plans to propose a one-time $10 million bailout for rural hospitals this year, but isn’t very optimistic about his chances.
So in addition to asking for the one-time lifeline, Mr. Hill says he will champion a bill to simplify the process by which a rural hospital can be sold. A separate proposal will toughen the requirements for HMOs to negotiate with rural facilities for inclusion in provider networks.
"We’re doing everything we can," he says. "Beating out the brush fires might not put out the main fire, but we’re doing what we can do."
Along with the Georgia hospital association, Mr. Hill is championing a bill (HB 1212) that would exempt hospitals with fewer than 100 beds from some of the analysis and reporting requirements imposed in the transfer of ownership of a facility run by a hospital authority. Mr. Hill acknowledges that the requirements are motivated by previous "abuses" in which hospital ownership changed hands without adequate oversight of local government. In the case of rural hospitals, however, he says the mandates unnecessarily burden a corporation that might be willing to infuse capital into a rural hospital.
"I don’t know if we need to study it too hard," he says.
Contact Mr. Hill at (404) 656-5038.
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