Grady says Fulton needs to pay $36M more a year

Fulton County needs to increase payments to Grady Memorial Hospital by nearly half — about $36 million a year — if the county is going to meet its obligations in covering the hospital’s losses on indigent Fulton residents.

Grady officials delivered that potentially costly message Thursday in a series of documents, numbers and files presented to county officials as the two sides spar over how much taxpayers should contribute for indigent care.

Fulton officials vowed to pore over the files and see if they can verify Grady’s numbers.

“These have got to be validated and replicated before I am going to take them,” said Commissioner Lynne Riley. “I’ve asked the county manager to do some due diligence. We will have some auditing done.”

Grady responded that they hope the numbers can start a new dialogue to resolve a long-running dispute between the public hospital and the county over the care Grady provides for indigent Fulton residents, the costs of that care and how much local taxpayers should pay.

“The goal was to give the commission a month with the full costs of caring for Fulton County patients,” said Matt Gove, Grady spokesman. “What we didn’t want to do was fill this with a bunch of assumptions.”

The numbers show indigent Fulton residents sought care at Grady facilities 40,000 times in December.

Outside of patients whose care is covered by Medicare or Medicaid, the hospital showed it provided $20.4 million in care that cost Grady $10.7 million. Those patients paid only about $1.3 million, leaving about $9.4 million in uncompensated care which could be traced directly back to Fulton taxpayers.

If taxpayers were to pick up that tab, it would project to about $112.8 million over 12 months. Fulton budgeted a Grady contribution of $76.5 million this year. Fulton commissioners so far haven’t even agreed to provide that.

Last month, the commission withheld $26.5 million until Grady provided numbers to resolve the ongoing dispute over care and costs.

Commission Chairman John Eaves, a vocal Grady supporter, said it’s too early to tell what the numbers will mean. He, too, would like to see verification before proposing any action.

“In general, I’m willing to do all I can to provide support to Grady for the patients we want to provide help to,” Eaves said.

It’s uncertain where Fulton would find another $36 million to fully fund Grady, if commissioners decide they agree with Grady’s numbers. They still have to vote to release the rest of this year’s money.

Gove said Grady’s not yet asking for Fulton to cover its losses on indigent county residents.

“We don’t look at this as a break-even prospect,” Gove said. “The goal is a system to operate efficiently and, ultimately, profitably. This has more to do with ensuring the commissioners and county manager through records that every dollar they fund Grady goes directly to Fulton patients.”