Key infection data for all hospitals, including those in Georgia, is now available through information available online via a federal report card.

The US Department of Health & Human Services website hospitalcompare.hhs.gov provides key information on a hospital’s instances of infections linked to central lines, which are catheters implanted to provide critical fluids and medications to sick patients. Unfortunately, these central lines can also make patients vulnerable to infections that can have a devastating effect on those already struggling to get well.

By knowing how their hospitals rank in regards to these, and other, key measures, patients are better equipped to make decisions about where they get their health care. Read more

Georgia Watch, in collaboration with fellow members of the Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform, avidly supports House Bill 798, which would strengthen Georgia’s ethics laws by imposing a $100 cap on lobbyist gifts to lawmakers, along with other key provisions. Currently, Georgia law allows lobbyists to lavish our state’s lawmakers with unlimited gifts, which run the gamut from expensive dinners to extravagant trips around the world, as long as they disclose the amounts of these gifts. Georgia is the only southeastern state without a limit on the amount of money lobbyists can spend on legislators. Every one of our neighboring states – Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida – has adopted strict caps or outright banned lobbyist gifts. Georgians also overwhelmingly recognize the need to reign in the moneyed special interests. In a recent Mason Dixon poll, 72 percent of registered voters in Georgia support a cap on lobbyist gifts.

“If the legislature wants to restore integrity in the political process, as Georgians have overwhelmingly asked them to do, they should stop passing the buck, and find the political courage to pass this bill,” said Georgia Watch Executive Director Angela Speir Phelps. “If our lawmakers choose to not place a cap on gifts, it will be clear that their sense of entitlement far outweighs their sense of duty to the people they serve.”

The Georgia Alliance for Ethics Reform includes Georgia Watch, Common Cause, the Georgia Tea Party Patriots and the League of Women Voters. House Bill 798 was introduced by Rep. Tommy Smith (R-Nicholls), and would place monetary limits on gifts that lawmakers can receive from lobbyists. Click to learn more.

Low-income and senior Georgians who aren’t able to pay their heating bills were given a $10 million boost from state utility regulators this week when the Public Service Commission approved the use of emergency funds to ensure that families and individuals don’t go cold this winter.

Starting in December, these emergency assistance funds will be used to assist with heating bills as well as reconnect heat for those who have had their heat turned off within the last 45 days. The $10 million is coming from the universal service fund that Atlanta Gas Light usually utilizes to extend natural gas pipelines to where new homes and businesses are being built. Money for the fund comes from AGL’s industrial customers and its wholesale services unit, Sequent Energy Management. Learn more about the program and how you can apply for this help.