By Max Blau – Macon Telegraph In December 2017, Sidney Canada felt dizzy and disoriented. The 52-year-old Georgia father often struggled to get a decent night’s rest, due to his sleep apnea. When he couldn’t talk clearly, his wife wondered if he had...
More infoGeorgia moves up in key rating of hospital safety
By Andy Miller – Georgia Health News More than one-third of Georgia hospitals scored an “A’’ in the latest safety ratings by the Leapfrog Group. That puts Georgia No. 15 among states for its percentage of hospitals getting an “A’’ from Leapfrog, up...
More infoGeorgia Making Significant Strides in Hospital Safety
Atlanta, Georgia—May 15, 2019 – The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit aiming to improve health care quality for consumers, employers and purchasers, announced today the fall 2018 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. Georgia ranks 15th in the nation for...
More infoGeorgia Showing Significant Gains in Hospital Safety
Atlanta, Georgia—Nov. 8, 2018 – The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit aiming to improve health care quality for consumers, employers and purchasers, announced today the fall 2018 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades. Georgia ranks 17th in the nation for...
More infoBlue Cross Blue Shield will stop reimbursing some ER visits on July 1st
Starting July 1, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia is implementing a new policy that may result in unpaid bills for patients on the individual market who go to hospital emergency rooms for non-emergencies. Anthem, the parent company of Blue Cross in...
More infoGeorgia Watch Comments on New CMS Informed Consent Rules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has proposed new regulations related to the informed consent documents patients receive prior to elective procedures in hospitals. These documents are critical to effectively engaging patients in...
More infoBattle heats up on ‘surprise billing’ in Georgia hospitals
By Ariel Hart – The Atlanta Journal-Constitution When Matthew Keadey and his wife went to have their baby at Northside Hospital, they had done their research. The facility was in their insurance network, and so was their doctor. Everything went fine...
More info“Georgia lawmakers to tackle ‘surprise’ medical billing to patients”
Written by: Andy Miller, Georgia Health News Published: January 26, 2017 When his 5-year-old son suffered a burn injury, Michael Caraway took him to a local hospital emergency room. The hospital was in Caraway’s insurance network. His son got successful...
More infoAs Ga.’s Rural Hospitals Close, Communities Deal With Effects
By Elly Wu – WABE 90.1 Cindy Jones still can’t help but think about the timing of things. Stewart-Webster Hospital, the place she and her family had gone to for years, closed in March of 2013. A month later, her husband Bill suffered a heart attack...
More infoState’s highest court will hear Northside open records case
By Andy Miller – Georgia Health News The Georgia Supreme Court has agreed to hear a high-profile open records case involving Northside Hospital in Atlanta. The case involves the nonprofit hospital’s rejection of requests for information about its...
More info“Less than one-quarter of Georgia hospitals score “A” in safety ratings”
Georgia Health News, Andy Miller – November 1, 2016 Just 22 percent of Georgia hospitals received an “A” grade on patient safety in the latest ratings from the Leapfrog Group. That put Georgia in a tie for 36th place among states ranked on...
More infoEngaging with Local Hospitals on Community Health
Is your hospital on this List? If so, it is a non-profit hospital, and most Georgia hospitals fall into this category. Non-profit hospitals do not have to pay most federal, state and local taxes. In return for their tax-exempt status, the Internal Revenue...
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