ATLANTA – Lawmakers have expanded a tax break for donors who give money to cash-strapped hospitals in hopes of boosting rural healthcare.  

A bill was approved by the General Assembly Thursday – the last day of the legislative session – that would sweeten a tax credit for donors and raise the population threshold, which could open the program up to six or more hospitals across the state.

The governor must still sign off on the measure. 

“Hopefully, we will see something come of this and help our hospital,” said Rep. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville. 

Williams said his hometown hospital, Oconee Regional Medical Center in Milledgeville, is among those that would now become eligible for the program with the population threshold set at 50,000 people, up from 35,000. 

So would Colquitt Regional Medical Center in Moultrie. 

“We have a growing need for healthcare services in our area and this could be helpful as we continue our efforts to meet this demand,” Jim Matney, hospital’s president and CEO, said in a statement. 

Lawmakers passed a measure last year that offers a tax break to contributors who give to rural hospitals, costing the state as much as $180 million over three years. Donors currently get back 70 percent of their contributions. 

But the program hasn’t taken off as quickly as lawmakers and local hospital administrators had hoped. About $1.2 million in tax credits had been claimed in the first two months – well below the $50 million limit for the first year. 

Irwin County Hospital, for one, has received two donations so far, amounting to a couple thousand dollars.

“It’s just been very slow,” Paige Wynn, Irwin County Hospital’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer, said Wednesday before the vote. “I don’t think we’re going to go anywhere if doesn’t go to 90 (percent).”

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, increases the tax credit to 90 percent. It also raises the limit for how much donors can give. Individuals would have the credit applied to $5,000. A couple would get back most of $10,000 donated. The cap on the program – set at $180 million over three years – does not increase. 

Rep. Geoff Duncan, R-Cumming, who has led the initiative, said he believes the changes will quickly trigger more donations, including from corporations interested in giving to hospitals statewide. 

“We think that those dollars are sitting on the edge of the counter ready to flow into these 49 rural hospitals,” Duncan said from the House floor Tuesday. 

The bill also tries to address a sore subject with several lawmakers, who have objected to the hospitals using some of the donated funds to pay an outside consultant to manage the program for them. 

A third party can charge no more than a 3 percent fee for its services under the new plan. An Atlanta-based business had originally planned to keep 6 percent of the donations processed. 

 Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.