Committee Will Review Grady

A special legislative committee formed to help Grady Memorial Hospital weather tough financial times also could end up aiding other medical facilities in the state, House Speaker Glenn Richardson said Monday.

Mr. Richardson, R-Hiram, named five lawmakers to a panel to look at Grady’s operations and whether the state should provide financial relief for the hospital.

The committee includes House Appropriations Chairman Ben Harbin, R-Evans, House Health and Human Services Committee Chairwoman Sharon Cooper, R-Marietta, and Reps. Penny Houston, R-Nashville, Melvin Everson, R-Snellville and Pam Stephenson, D-Atlanta.

A report issued recently by the Greater Grady Task Force, created by the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the hospital’s dire financial position and called for Grady to be reorganized and for the facility to receive greater state financial assistance.

Mr. Richardson raised both the possibility of help for Grady and a greater state role in overseeing the operations of the hospital if Georgia taxpayers are going to provide more funding.

“It’s not enough just to throw money at a problem, you’ve got to try to help fix what’s causing the problem.” Mr. Richardson said in a meeting with reporters.

At the same time, some of the aid Mr. Richardson proposed for helping the Atlanta hospital also could open up new funding or help for other Level I trauma centers, or medical facilities equipped to deal with the most serious injuries.

The teaching hospital at the Medical College of Georgia, Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah and The Medical Center of Central Georgia are the three other Level I trauma care facilities in Georgia.

After legislative leaders touted funding for the ailing trauma care system as one of their priorities for the 2007 session, the General Assembly failed to agree on an array of ideas proposed by House members and senators.

But Mr. Richardson once again floated the idea of a $1 surcharge on phone bills as a way to pay for trauma care aid. He proposed the idea of a “contract” between the state and Grady to provide funding to the hospital in return for an agreement to provide beds for seriously injured patients in the greater Atlanta area, something the hospital regularly does anyway.

“And, yes, I would consider that at other Level I trauma care facilities throughout the state,” he said. “I think that ought to be part and parcel of what we’re looking at. We don’t have a network, we don’t have an ability to know where there are beds available, and when you have a serious injury you need immediately to know where to take those (patients).”

Mr. Richardson did not say when he expected the committee’s recommendations.

Reach Brandon Larrabee at (678) 977-3709 or brandon.larrabee@morris.com.

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