State Shouldn’t Force Counties to Do The Grady Shuffle
There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the State clearly understands the importance of Grady hospital and is committed to moving it toward a new management structure.
The bad news is that they seem intent on forcing Fulton and Dekalb county to continue to pay for it, whether they like the new agreement or not.
It’s likely that the new agreement is in Fulton and Dekalb’s long term interests, but the state should not have to power to force the local tax payers to accept an agreement without approval of their county commissions.
Both the Fulton County Commission and Dekalb County Commission have given the agreements to their legal departments for study. Both want to act on the proposals in a timely fashion. The legislature is pre-mature in trying to force the issue.
It’s not as though the counties want to hospital to shut down. What they do want is to be able to assure it provides the services each of the counties needs, that Doctors and other staff who live and are trained in Fulton and Dekalb continue to have access to working at the hospital, and that as stake holders, residents of the counties can influence how the system is managed.
Grady sees nearly a million patients a year through it’s system. It’s budget is nearly $700 million and over $100 comes directly from Fulton and Dekalb tax payers. When you pay $100 million, your commission should get the read the proposals before the state intervenes.