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DEL.ICIO.USShe wants to put backless gowns on hospital salaries
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Just when you thought things were too dull in the Legislature, the war on hospitals goes boom.
One of the most hotly lobbied issues this session centers on where a body can and can’t put a hospital. For years, the state has controlled the location of hospitals, along with the number of beds, with “certificates of need.” Licensing, in other words.
The system stems from days when hospitals were charitable operations run by public authorities or charities. Hospitals too close together were considered a waste of money.
But now a 50-bed cancer hospital that wants to establish itself in metro Atlanta, over the objections of Emory University and Piedmont hospitals.
The hospital’s lobbying effort has persuaded lawmakers to take a new look at the entire hospital-authorizing system. It’s not an exaggeration to say that billions of dollars are at stake.
State Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta) is one of many who have dropped legislation on the topic. She wants certificates of need abandoned entirely. Let the free market reign, says she.
Established hospitals have pushed back.
And in the Capitol, push quickly comes to shove. Chamber has now dropped a companion measure, H.B. 427, to require non-profit hospitals to disclose all compensation received by hospital executives.
(It would also require hospitals to disclose “hospital-acquired infection rates.” Chambers’ mother had a bad experience on her last trip to a certain medical center.)
At the root of the legislation is a suspicion held by many state lawmakers that non-profit companies that run many of today’s hospitals aren’t as poor as they say. In fact, Chambers said, some have cash stashed in off-shore accounts.
Which is why she wants them to open their books.
By the way, Jeannette Jamieson of Toccoa, a Democrat, is the third signature on the bill, which means it can be described as bipartisan. And Earl Ehrhart, the House Rules chairman, provided the fourth signature. Which means the bill has legs, at least on that side of the Capitol.
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By GOP Issue Wonk
February 17, 2007 10:05 AM | Link to this
Bravo to State Rep. Chambers! The NFP hospitals in this state are protected monopolies, who shaft patients, and enrich their own bureaucrats at the expense of doctors and nurses!
By Mr. Right
February 25, 2007 10:53 PM | Link to this
If Republican State Rep Chambers is so pro-citizen and free enterprise why won’t she endorse the City of Dunwoody. Here’s why: she accepts campaign donations from Mr CEO Vernon Jones!! She is just a Democrat in Republican clothing. We need to vote her out and replace her with a real Republican.
By James Hartfield
February 26, 2007 11:12 AM | Link to this
Real republicans don’t vote for tax increases, unlike Senator Weber who also endorsed Howard Dean for President. So who’s the real republican again?