About Us

What is the Alliance?

The Alliance works for the interests of community not-for-profit hospitals across the state of Georgia. One of its main roles is to push for the enactment of sound laws, rules and regulations affecting community hospitals. The Alliance conducts and disseminates research on important health care issues, and it shares ideas that improve Georgia's health care delivery systems.

How do we help rural hospitals?

The Alliance is taking action on a number of fronts to help rural hospitals. To name only a few of our efforts: Many of the Alliance's urban members have provided financial and administrative assistance to rural hospitals through creative partnering alliances, and the Alliance supports partnering where it makes sense. The Alliance continually monitors and lobbies legislation that affects rural health care, and we educate lawmakers so they understand the depth of rural health issues and the effects of closing a rural hospital. We work with legislation and regulatory proposals to offset Medicaid cuts and make it easier for urban and rural health care systems to form operational partnerships.

What is a certificate of need and why is it important?

As the name implies, the certificate of need (CON) law requires hospitals to get certification from the state to build new facilities after they have documented a public need for the facilities. Georgia enacted CON 20 years ago to eliminate the wasteful duplication of unneeded healthcare facilities and to ensure that medical care would be delivered as efficiently as possible. CON has helped hold down hospital costs and has enabled the state to maintain a health care infrastructure that delivers quality health care and meets indigent care needs.

Why shouldn’t hospitals deregulate and get rid of CON?

The Alliance recognizes that market forces are changing the nature of the healthcare industry, but we would caution that the transition to a market-driven healthcare delivery system would encounter major pitfalls and should be very carefully managed. Competition does not work the same way in the healthcare industry as in other businesses. In healthcare, you have a situation where supply drives demand, rather than the other way around. The introduction of additional hospital beds or ambulatory surgery centers does not drive down costs -- it drives up costs. If there are too many hospital beds in an area, costs often go up, where in other businesses, this kind of oversupply would bring prices down. If you've got excess beds and medical equipment, hospitals will usually find a way to charge for them. That, plus concerns about indigent care and quality, is why CON requirements were established more than 20 years ago.

If for-profit hospitals are paying taxes, why should community hospitals have to provide indigent care as well?

The money spent by community hospitals on indigent and charity medical care far outweighs the taxes paid by for-profit corporations

For-profit hospitals operate under the principles of competition and a free market.  Isn’t that the best way to operate for all hospitals?

It's important to remember that the purpose of any for-profit business is to maximize its profits. To do that, for-profit hospitals will often cut expenses by reducing the patient care staffing at its hospitals and eliminating services that don't add to their profit margins. For-profit hospitals will cut or avoid providing services like indigent care, neo-natal intensive care, teaching and education programs for resident physicians, and outreach programs that improve the health and well-being of the entire community. These are the kinds of services that community hospitals do offer because their mission is to serve the entire community, not to generate huge profits.

Isn't it true that community hospitals also make profits?

Community hospitals, by their tax-exempt nature, are prohibited from making a profit. Some of them do generate a surplus of revenues, but these surpluses by law must be invested right back into the hospital. These surpluses allow community hospitals to expand their facilities and services without having to go back to the taxpayers. They enable community hospitals to pay off the bonds that are issued to pay for hospital improvements. The only people who benefit from the surplus revenues generated by a community hospital are the people who come to it for treatment. By comparison, the profits generated by Columbia/HCA hospitals go straight back to corporate headquarters in Nashville, Tenn. and do not stay in the local communities.