Another critical-access hospital in rural Georgia has shut its doors.
Lower Oconee Community Hospital in Wheeler County closed due to financial problems, and some of the 100 employees have been laid off while the facility looks to restructure, possibly into an urgent care center, Andy Miller reports for
The Telegraph in Macon. Last year
three hospitals closed in Georgia, but as many as 15 more were in danger of shutting their doors this year.
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| Wheeler County, Georgia |
"Jimmy Lewis of
HomeTown Health, an organization of rural hospitals in
Georgia, said Thursday that Lower Oconee suffered from high rates of
unemployed and uninsured patients, coupled with heavy demands on staff
time to handle claims processing from multiple insurance programs," Miller writes. Wheeler County has a population of 7,900, a 23 percent uninsured rate, 10 percent of employees are unemployed, and 41 percent of children live in poverty, according to the
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation.
The not-profit hospital is privately owned. Lower Oconee CEO Karen O’Neal told Miller, “We just did not have sufficient volume to support the expenses. It’s a terrible situation, and it’s tragic, the loss of jobs and
the economic impact.” (
Read more)
Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/02/13/2935772/another-rural-ga-hospital-calls.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/02/13/2935772/another-rural-ga-hospital-calls.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2014/02/13/2935772/another-rural-ga-hospital-calls.html#storylink=cpy
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