Atlanta Progressive News

 

(APN) ATLANTA — Grady Health System CEO Michael Young and staff engaged about 30 citizens Thursday night, June 25, 2009, in a discussion at the First Iconium Baptist Church in East Atlanta on a variety of issues.

Topics ranged from the quality of patient care at Grady Memorial Hospital, keeping neighborhood clinics open, access to care, funding, and even the nature of the healthcare industry itself.

Fulton County Commissioner Emma Darnell (District 5) and State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) have publicly expressed concerns over quality of care after hearing complaints from constituents.

“[The Grady Coalition] has agreed… the central issue has to be patient care,” Fort, co-chair of the Coalition, said. “I’ve gotten several calls over the past year about patient care.”

He also expressed frustration over what he described as a lack of communication between Grady and the public, especially over proposed changes in care.

“What I would suggest to you is there be periodic meetings like this… where changes in service are given to the public before they are implemented,” Fort said. “We should not stumble into a board meeting and hear something is about to get cut.”

The Coalition extended a formal invitation to Young to speak and he quickly jumped at the chance, agreeing at the meeting “to come here three or four times a year” to give updates.

The CEO opened the meeting by outlining improvements Grady has made in numerous areas.

For example, Grady is seeing more patients now than it ever has, he said. Volumes are up 12 percent and include 67,000 new patients, which Young pointed out is larger than the population of Marietta.

Neighborhood clinic volumes are up 20 percent thanks in part to a staggering economy that has driven people out of work and subsequently off healthcare rolls. Young said 125,000 clinic patients are uninsured.

Additionally, Young said wait times, lengths of stay, and testing times are all down, which has led to an increase in patient satisfaction.

“At the end of the day, volumes are up, service is up, [and] complications are down,” he said.

Since the launch of the Greater Grady Capital Campaign in January 2009, the health system has managed to raise $270 million and is well on its way to reaching its goal of $320 million with four years left in the campaign.

“I believe the board of directors is going to raise $320 million in the worst economy since the 1930s,” Young said. “How many of you thought that was possible?”

Young noted since Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders took charge at the Henry W. Grady Foundation, she has helped raise $90 million of the $270 million total.

Borders, a 2009 candidate for Mayor of Atlanta, will suspend her Foundation duties at the end of July, Young said, to focus on the campaign and to avoid a possible conflict of interest.

“All the gifts we’ve gotten have been used to buy things,” Young said. Along with a $200 million donation from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation last year, Grady has used gifts to purchase everything from beds to modern imaging equipment to new ambulances.

“We’re going to need some help from everybody,” he said. “We need to establish some foundations for stability so we don’t have to go through this craziness year after year after year.”

But despite signs of progress in several areas, there are still obstacles to overcome and potentially tough choices to make.

Young noted Grady is on pace to deliver $300 million of free care this year. But because Grady receives more demand for care that it receives in money to pay for it, the health system has to find about $20 million to come out even.

CEO Young expressed some of his own frustrations, shared by many at Thursday’s meeting, about the difficulty securing state and federal funding.

As previously reported by Atlanta Progressive News, the Georgia General Assembly failed this year to pass HB 148, which would have placed a $10 fee on all car tags to raise $80 million annually for trauma care.

Grady, the only level one trauma center within a 100-mile radius of downtown Atlanta, would have benefited greatly.

The Assembly did pass HB 160, better known as Gov. Sonny Perdue’s “super speeder” legislation, which places an additional $200 fine on all speeders caught traveling 75 m.p.h on two lane roads and 85 m.p.h. on highways. But it will only generate $20 million annually, specifically for trauma care.

Young and Pete Correll, Chairman of the non-profit Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation that manages the system, successfully convinced lawmakers not to cut Medicaid funding.

Grady also recently changed its policy so that uninsured patients who are not from Fulton or DeKalb County will have to pay a certain amount of their bills; however, they did not increase costs for indigent patients from Fulton or Dekalb as had been originally proposed.

The Coalition, and some Grady officials, has argued for some time that surrounding Metro Atlanta counties who send patients to Grady ought to “pay to play.”

“The only institution that can force these surrounding counties to pay anything is the State of Georgia,” the Rev. Timothy McDonald, co-chair of the Coalition, said.

Young pledged Thursday to continue lobbying the State for dedicated funding.

“I spend half my time trying to sell to the state, trying to sell to the feds,” he said. “Whether you like [Gov. Perdue] or not, you have to work with him because he’s signing the checks.”

Young addressed speculation and concern that Grady may be on the verge of closing one or more of its eight neighborhood clinics.

Officials announced in early May that it would be closing three neighborhood health centers as part of a restructuring plan: The South DeKalb Grady Clinic on Rainbow Drive in Decatur, The Lindbergh Women & Children’s Health Center on Buford Highway, and the Center Hill Center on Atlanta Industrial Parkway.

Those were slated for closure, officials said, because they offer limited services and see few people.

Upon hearing the news, DeKalb County Commissioner Larry Johnson (District 3) contacted Young to let him know how important the Rainbow Drive center is to South DeKalb residents. Due to his efforts, that center will remain open.

Young said all clinics remain open for now and negotiations continue, especially concerning the Rainbow Drive clinic.

“We’re doing everything we can do,” Young said. “We have not made a decision.”

Officials also announced in May they were considering closing the on-site dialysis center, which serves about 90 people, most of whom cannot pay for services, and loses $4 million a year.

Young said no decision had been made about the dialysis center either.

“We’re actually considering building a new dialysis center,” he said. “By the way, our center stinks. It’s 50 years old.”

“You have to decide if you want to lose $4 million a year on 90 people,” Young continued. “Do we serve the 200,000 or do we serve the 92 people, 10 of whom are from Gwinnett, 11 of whom are from Cobb?”

 

About the author:

Jonathan Springston is a Senior Staff Writer for The Atlanta Progressive News and is reachable at jonathan@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

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