Some rural
Georgia Counties have no medical facilities. Some of these counties are
attempting to get a Bill passed to allow them to plan and construct a
free-standing emergency room.
GA SB
158, would allow rural Georgia Counties that have no hospital to be able to
build a free-standing emergency room if it is needed and is economically
feasible.
See Bill
at:
Julianne Thompson makes the case for GA SB 158
Friends,
Over the past 8 years we
have watched access to healthcare in the United States come under attack from
over regulation. The good news is we have the ability to do something positive
for our own care in Georgia.
As conservatives we
support the free market system, and as such we celebrate the ability of quality
healthcare services to expand in Georgia - services that could benefit
countless Georgians. As an example a few years ago Cancer Treatment Centers of
America opened in our state, and we are so thankful they did, as many people
have been treated and lives saved as a result. But, it was not without having
to be granted a special
waiver and being capped because of archaic CON laws.
The State of Georgia has
one of the most restrictive CON laws in the United States, even though the
federal government repealed it's CON laws in 1986 and many other states have followed
suit.
A current bill in the
Senate right now is SB 158. This bill would modernize and reform our CON laws
and as such lower healthcare costs. It would attract new doctors to Georgia,
expand emergency care, and give patients better access to more choices in
quality care.
SB 158 would allow the
Department of Community Health to hold a competitive process for hospitals to
build a freestanding emergency facility in a county that has no hospital currently. And
we all know in the case of an emergency the difference between life and death
can be just a few minutes. Every second counts.
The state should not
stop a county from building an emergency room to serve its citizens. Right now
in Georgia single specialty groups are allowed to have operating rooms, but
multi-specialty groups are not.
This bill levels the
playing field by allowing multi-specialty groups who accept Medicaid to do some
operations in an outpatient setting, reducing costs, giving patients more
choice, and reducing the burden on taxpayers.
Since we need more
primary care doctors in Georgia, this bill would allow single specialty groups
who have an operating room to not only transfer to a multi-specialty group, but also recruit
more doctors, including primary care doctors to serve local residents...without
being punished.
And lastly it says that
NONE of these things can occur in a county that is serviced by a single
hospital with fewer than 100 beds. That eliminates any possibility that it
could hurt struggling rural hospitals.
This bill goes before
committee Thursday afternoon at 2 PM. Your calls and emails to the members of
the Health and Human Services Committee are crucial. They need to know you are
informed and you want positive change and better access to quality healthcare.
Julianne Thompson
Comments
Rescue and repair
service costs have quadrupled. Large hospitals have a monopoly on expensive
treatments and counties need lower cost options. We need to loosen regulations
to allow this to happen.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA
Tea Party Leader
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