Virtually every major urban public hospital in Georgia has shifted its management to a nonprofit, community-based board, the plan proposed for Grady, which has 953 beds. Here is a look at the effects of the change at three Georgia hospitals, as well as one in Miami.

SAVANNAH: Memorial Health University Medical Center (530 beds)

• CEO Bob Colvin said the change helped shelter the hospital from the local politics that consumed it under the prior board of political appointees.

• Memorial Health invested $14 million in a community partnership that provides health and social services for the poor. That helped save $50 million through fewer trips to the emergency room for everyday care.

• After years of profits following the restructuring, Memorial Health is on track for a $30 million deficit this year, because of more uninsured patients and less federal funding.

MIAMI: Jackson Memorial Hospital (Main hospital has 1,558 beds)

• Miami-Dade County subsidizes Jackson annually through a half-cent sales tax, ad valorem tax and direct funding of capital projects.

• Jackson underwent a recent restructuring, following a few years of losses.

• Although Jackson is a major charity care provider, it attracts 20 percent of its revenues from commercial insurers; Grady attracts only 7 percent.

MACON: Medical Center of Central Georgia (603 beds)

• The management realignment allowed the hospital to form a joint venture with its physicians, which helped increase the number of insured and paying patients and improve the hospital's image in the community.

• The change provided more flexibility in investments and business opportunities, but it has not made a big difference in the hospital's finances.

• The hospital remains profitable, but faced with more nonpaying patients and reduced Medicaid payments, it is considering cutting some services and sacrificing its Level 1 trauma status.

AUGUSTA: University Hospital (581 beds)

• University restructured to free itself from the Hospital Authorities Law restraint that prohibited expansion beyond Richmond County.

• Acquisition of medical practices has not been profitable.

• The hospital has not received any funding from Richmond County in about five years.

Sources: Troutman Sanders report on Grady Memorial Hospital and interviews with hospital officials