Insurer’s gift: $5 million to Grady

Setting the stage for a $100 million fund-raising campaign, Grady Memorial Hospital on Monday will receive a $5 million gift, most of which will pay for medical care for one year for 1,000 chronically ill poor people.

The gift from medical insurer Kaiser Permanente will support two of Grady’s urgent missions in metro Atlanta, designating $3 million for care of the needy, and the remaining $2 million for trauma care —- for victims of car crashes, violent crime and catastrophic personal accidents.

Grady supporters hope the gift sets a new bar in giving to the cash-strapped hospital. For many years, it has been the ugly stepsister of the charity community, but it is now poised to become the new darling of Atlanta fund-raising, they say.

Thomas Bell, who is president of Cousins Properties and a member of the new Grady corporation board, said the gift underscores the increasing support that follows the monumental changes in hospital leadership.

“This is a new day,” Bell said. “This gets us off on the right foot.”

The 1,000 chronically ill people who will benefit do not have private insurance and do not qualify for government benefits. They visit Grady often to manage diabetes, pulmonary and heart disease. While Grady receives some government aid to help with these unpaid costs, the hospital loses upwards of $40 million a year providing care to uninsured people.

“These people may be working or not working, but they don’t qualify for public assistance and they don’t make enough to have insurance or pay for the services,” said Peter Andruszkiewicz, interim president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia.

The gift will defray costs that otherwise would add to Grady’s debt, which last year reached $43 million.

Grady’s trauma unit, which is metro Atlanta’s only Level One trauma center, will benefit from $2 million of the gift. The money will go towards equipment. Grady officials acknowledge they have postponed replacing aging equipment as they struggle with budget shortfalls.

The multimillion-dollar donation is among the first major gifts since the hospital instituted dramatic changes in its leadership.

Earlier this year, control of Grady was handed from a politically appointed hospital board, which managed almost 10 straight years of deep deficits, to a nonprofit corporation board composed of Atlanta business and community leaders.

To spur that transfer of power, the Woodruff Foundation promised Grady $200 million for equipment and facilities and has already delivered the first of four annual installments of $50 million.

The Kaiser Permanente gift was announced after the new Grady president, Michael Young, took office on Tuesday.

“It would be our hope that … this is the first of many,” he said.

Bell, the Grady board member, said the fund-raising campaign will kick into gear in January. The $5 million donation already exceeds the $3.4 million raised last year by the Grady Foundation, which had been the primary fund-raiser for the hospital.

The Grady turnaround will succeed only with community support, Bell said.

The spare economy is taking a toll on the hospital. Fulton and DeKalb have cut their funding some $20 million below last year’s level, and overall hospital admissions and revenues are down from a year ago, Bell said.

This donation, he said, makes it easier to request significant sums from Atlanta’s power-givers.

Grady has hired a firm to craft the fund-raising campaign, which has approached 40 major givers.

“Frankly, none has said no,” Bell said.

MONEY MATTERS

> Total amount raised by the Grady Foundation last year: $3.4 million

> Donation from Kaiser Permanente: $5 million

> Goal of the Grady fund-raising campaign: $100 million

> Amount lost by Grady annually through care to uninsured people: About $40 million

> Grady’s deficit last year: $43 million

Source: Grady Foundation, Grady Memorial Hospital

ITEMS TO BE BOUGHT

> One portable ultrasound unit for rapid and non-invasive assessments of injured patients

> Two fiber optic scopes to help patients breathe

> Two bronchoscope devices to see airways

> Burn equipment

> Replacement of trauma center intensive care waiting room seating.

Source: Kaiser Permanente