Georgia Watch released a report detailing the plight of the uninsured and underinsured when seeking affordable health care in the state. Titled The Cost of Care in Georgia, the report examines overcharging of uninsured patients at nonprofit hospitals, along with the economic repercussions of medical debt and how it directly causes foreclosure and financial ruin. In terms of potential solutions to the issue of affordability, the report evaluates programs across the state that treat the uninsured for less… Read the rest of this entry »

By John Bailey for the Rome News-Tribune, July 24, 2009
The financial practices of Georgia not-for-profit hospitals, including Floyd Medical Center, are creating a barrier to affordable health care, a consumer advocacy group concludes. The Hospital Accountability Project by Georgia Watch focuses primarily on the affordability of health care for self-pay, underinsured and uninsured patients… Read the rest of this entry »

Health care is a market where consumers are perpetually at a disadvantage as it differs from other consumer-driven industries due to a lack of clear pricing and information, a lack of choice in most Georgia markets, the role of insurance in health care choices and the complexity and importance of health care treatment. More oversight, transparency, accountability and efforts to increase affordability and access are necessary to restore fairness for consumers.

More than 80 percent of hospitals in Georgia operate as tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. In recent years, most every major urban hospital in Georgia has become a tax-exempt nonprofit organization governed by a nonprofit board.

Hospitals formed under the umbrella of the Hill-Burton Act of 1946 are obligated to provide accessible and affordable health care, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. These health care services are generally referred to as “community benefits” and include charity and indigent care.

Most tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals have an obligation to the community to provide accessible and affordable health care, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. But some of these hospitals that have taken on the mission of caring for those most in need have turned their back on uninsured and indigent patients.

For example, many tax-exempt nonprofit hospitals in Georgia charge uninsured patients a significantly higher cost for services than average payments received from most third party payers, such as private insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.

Many of these hospitals also offer limited assistance to indigent and charity care patients, often not alerting patients to the availability of subsidized care. Many of these hospitals also employ aggressive collection tactics.

At the same time, many of these same hospitals pay their executives salaries that rival those of the top Fortune 500 companies and that are supplemented by generous retirement packages and plentiful perks.

Because of this, in 2007, Georgia Watch began authoring an ongoing series of reports that examine the finances and community offerings of hospitals in the state. The research and analysis is based on figures reported by the hospital to the IRS, the US Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, and other publicly available sources.

Hospitals are already examined are:

• Memorial University Medical Center (Savannah)
• Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital (Albany)
• Northside Hospital (Atlanta)
• Medical Center of Central Georgia(Macon)
• Floyd Medical Center (Rome)

In addition, in January 2009, Georgia Watch was awarded a two-year grant to specifically study both for-profit and nonprofit hospitals in the metropolitan Atlanta area. To learn more about this grant, click here.

We are currently in the process of revamping our hospital reports on Grady Memorial Hospital, Northside Hospital, Memorial University Medical Center and the Medical Center of Central Georgia. The only additions to the reports will be the inclusion of the most recently available financial figures.