Piedmont Healthcare generates $5.6 billion for local, state economy

Piedmont Healthcare, the largest healthcare provider in Georgia, generated $5.6 billion in revenue in 2017 for the local and state economy, according to a recently released report by the Georgia Hospital Association, the state’s largest hospital trade association.

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Piedmont operates 11 hospitals, 24 urgent care centers, 28 Piedmont QuickCare locations and 555 Piedmont Clinic physician practice locations in Georgia. In May, seven of Piedmont’s 11 hospitals received “A” grades in The Leapfrog Group’s Spring 2019 Hospital Safety Grade, making it the safest healthcare system in Georgia with more A grades than any other healthcare system in the state.

Piedmont had direct expenditures of more than $2.4 billion in 2017. The total economic impact of those expenditures was $5.6 billion when combined with an economic multiplier developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. This output multiplier considers the “ripple” effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy, such as medical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Economic multipliers are used to model the resulting impact of a change in one industry on the “circular flow” of spending within an economy as a whole.

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During the same time period, Piedmont provided approximately $144 million in uncompensated care. Piedmont spent more than $1 billion in salaries and benefits, resulting in total household earnings in the community of $2.1 billion.

“Piedmont Healthcare’s mission is to provide high-quality, patient-centered care,” Piedmont Healthcare President and CEO Kevin Brown said. “By providing healthcare to 2 million patients in Georgia each year and reaching 70 percent of the state’s population, we are pleased that as a result of that mission we are able to make a positive economic impact on the communities we serve.”