April 20, 2017 - In 2015, Southeast Georgia Health System hospitals in
Glynn and Camden counties generated more than $591,538,000 in revenue
for the local and state economy, according to a recent report by the Georgia
Hospital Association, the state’s largest hospital trade association.
The report also found that, during the same time period, Southeast Georgia
Health System hospitals provided approximately $26,830,000 in uncompensated
care while sustaining more than 1,697 full-time jobs (this number does
not include team members in the Health System’s two Senior Care
Centers or the strategic affiliates, which include five Family Medicine
Centers, three Immediate Care Centers and over 40 physician practices).
The report revealed that Southeast Georgia Health System hospitals had
direct expenditures of more than $257,112,000 in 2015. When combined with
an economic multiplier developed by the United States Department of Commerce’s
Bureau of Economic Analysis, the total economic impact of those expenditures
was more than $591,538,000. This output multiplier considers the “ripple”
effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy,
such as medical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.
Economic multipliers are used to model the resulting impact of a change
in one industry on the “circular flow” of spending within
an economy as a whole. The other affiliated entities accounted for additional
expenditures in excess of $80,000,000, which results in a further economic
impact of over $175,000,000.
“This report validates the enormous positive impact Southeast Georgia
Health System contributes to our local economy, and the importance of
our role in meeting the health care needs of the residents of Glynn and
Camden counties, as well as our surrounding communities which include
Brantley, Charlton, McIntosh and Wayne,” says Michael D. Scherneck,
president and chief executive officer of the Health System. “We
are very appreciative of our communities for their unwavering support
of our Health System and will continue to work hard to ensure that the
residents of our communities have access to the best and safest health
care services available.”
While Southeast Georgia Health System remains a major component of the
area’s economic engine, the Health System’s leadership, like
the rest of the Georgia hospital and health system community, is concerned
about a wide array of economic challenges that have made it increasingly
difficult to meet the community’s health care needs, including a
fast-growing uninsured population and inadequate payments from government
insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid. Presently, 42 percent of all
hospitals in Georgia are operating with negative margins.
“We’re extremely concerned about the current operating environment
for our Health System hospitals,” says Scherneck. “We’ve
made a commitment to every citizen of our communities to be there for
them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. However, our ability to do so is
being compromised when so many of our patients are either uninsured or
severely underinsured.”
According to Scherneck, local access to a strong, vibrant health care system
is critical not only to meet the health care needs of its residents, but
also to attract other industries and businesses to the area.
“Our local health care system is indispensable to our communities,”
Scherneck says. “It is not only the primary guardian of health in
our communities, but it is also a major economic engine in this area that
is responsible for more than 1,697 jobs. It is our hope that our elected
officials will join us in our efforts to protect our health care system
and preserve access to health care for every resident of southeast Georgia.”