LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Rural health care prospers with CON

Published 2:22 pm Thursday, February 28, 2019

I urge the people of Colquitt County to become aware of impending state legislation that could impact the healthcare services provided to our county by Colquitt Regional Medical Center. It is important that citizens contact our state representatives and ask questions about House Bill 198 and Senate Bill 74. These bills repeal the Certificate of Need (CON) process. You need to ask our representatives to support our hospital and, specifically, explain to us how repealing CON will benefit the citizens of Colquitt County.

The CON process requires proof of need in an area before a new hospital or associated services can be established. Legislators believe that repealing the CON will increase competition and access to healthcare, drive down costs, and improve quality of care. This may be so in large metropolitan areas but in rural Colquitt County it threatens the exceptional, high quality and low-cost healthcare available to all citizens through Colquitt Regional Medical Center and the Sterling Physician Group.

The fact is that the healthcare that legislators want for rural Georgia is already here in Colquitt County and is successful due to the provisions of the CON process. ACCESS – no patient is denied healthcare at our hospital or clinics as evidenced by almost 9 million dollars of indigent/charity care and more than 30 million dollars of bad debt last year. Provisions are made to help teachers, county employees, and families in poverty receive financial assistance. QUALITY – our hospital is the only one in the region to receive 9 consecutive awards for quality and safety from the national Leapfrog organization. Patient satisfaction is high as measured by a neutral external agency. LOW COST – our hospital can clearly demonstrate costs for services that are lower than other hospitals in the region. Colquitt Regional Medical Center approves of transparency in salaries, costs, properties, and contracts.The hospital functions with a 1.6 percent margin and our CEO compensation is at the 49th percentile of regional hospital CEOs.

Repealing CON will permit other health businesses to move into our county and poach patients from our hospital and clinics. Businesses such as diagnostic imaging, ambulatory surgical centers, and free-standing emergency rooms. None of these services are obliged to take patients who are unable to pay, they do not have to use the best and most advanced equipment and technology, and they do not provide follow-up if there is a medical complication. If allowed to come into our county such services will diminish our hospital and the healthcare it can provide and that will have ripple effects throughout our community.

Don’t take my word for it. Read the brief article written by Dr. Moree of Ashburn who clearly states the problem with repealing CON. Georgia Health News, February 24, 2019. https://www.georgiahealthnews.com/2019/02/eliminating-con-laws-put-profits-patients/

Contact Mr. Sam Watson and Mr. Jay Powell, and any member of the Georgia House Rules Committee, and ask them how repealing CON helps our rural community. Please do this before March 6. Sam.watson@house.ga.gov. Jay.powell@house.ga.gov.

Thank you.

Mo Yearta, chairman

Colquitt Regional Hospital Authority