ATLANTA — Grady Memorial Hospital and Fulton and DeKalb counties have announced an agreement that will see more than $60 million a year in support funding across six years go to the hospital as well as provide for five new neighborhood clinics to open.
The agreement is the fruit of efforts by public leaders to shore up the standing of Atlanta's largest hospital -- which has taken on added importance and a greater burden since the closing of Atlanta Medical Center.
According to Grady Health System President and CEO John Haupert, Grady saw a 35% increase in trauma volume as well as a "significant increase" in obstetrical volume since the closing of AMC.
A fact sheet provided by the counties said the agreement for the funding and new facilities will run between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2029, with an option to extend it for two additional terms of two years each (potentially four additional years in total).
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The initial 2024 base funding from Fulton County will total $43,297,870, and $19,077,505 from DeKalb County. The agreement notes that the funding will increase "aligned to county resident utilization of services and multiplied in future years by the Medical CPI (on average 3%)."
The five new clinics will include two in Fulton County and three in DeKalb County. In Fulton, one has already opened in the Cascade Road neighborhood of Atlanta and the other will be located in the Lee and White area of Atlanta's West End neighborhood.
The DeKalb County locations will be announced at the end of the month, the fact sheet stated.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said the clinics will add greater "equity" to the populations of Fulton County and beyond.
"We've seen that many of our residents are relying on emergency rooms for health care, but health care should begin when we are well, and these new clinics will help make that possible," Pitts said. "Citizens in south Fulton County live five years less than residents who live in north Fulton County."
Haupert, with Grady, added that the additional facilities will also be designed to "serve the community in which they're embedded."
"So, if it's a community full of more senior citizens, then that's tailored to them," he explained. "Some are primary care, some are primary care with rotating subspecialty care."
Additional provisions noted in the fact sheet include expanded mobile health services from Grady, including mobile health vans and mammography units, as well as a joint agreement to support Medicaid expansion in the Georgia General Assembly.
Georgia's Republican state leadership has long declined a full Medicaid expansion under Obamacare provisions, though 11Alive's Doug Richards reported last week there may be a fresh opening for expansion in the Republican-led Georgia General Assembly with this year's legislative session.
An earlier draft version of the agreement between Grady, Fulton and DeKalb noted that if Medicaid expansion were to occur, the support payments would cease on the first January that followed the first full enrollment period for the newly expanded population. A second provision would also open the possibility of altering the payments if the federal government were to approve other state changes to Medicaid.
11Alive is working to learn if those provisions were contained in the finalized agreement.