Augusta, GA

Action in Georgia reflects continuing hospital mergers | The Journal Record

Published

2 years ago

January 3, 2023

Action in Georgia reflects continuing hospital mergers | The Journal Record

A LifeNet helicopter brings a affected person to the trauma unit at what’s now Augusta College Medical Middle in Augusta, Ga. The entity that controls the hospital, Augusta College Well being System, has signed a letter of intent to affix Wellstar Well being System, based mostly close to Atlanta. (Photograph by Zach Boyden-Holmes/The Augusta Chronicle by way of AP)

ATLANTA (AP) – An Atlanta-area hospital system might take over the hospitals affiliated with Georgia’s solely public medical faculty.

Augusta College Well being System has signed a letter of intent to affix the Marietta-based nonprofit Wellstar Well being System.

It could be a part of a sequence of hospital mergers in Georgia and nationwide, as stand-alone hospitals turn into massive sufficient techniques to afford large investments in digital file techniques – and still have the market energy to barter extra profitable cost agreements with insurers.

Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare took over a three-hospital system based mostly in Augusta earlier this 12 months, pledging to speculate greater than $1 billion in upgrades and expansions over the following 10 years. That nonprofit group was named College Hospital, though it wasn’t managed by Augusta College.

Augusta College Well being System runs the 478-bed Augusta College Medical Middle and the 154-bed Kids’s Hospital of Georgia, each in Augusta. It additionally has regulatory approval to construct a 100-bed hospital in Grovetown, within the rising Columbia County suburbs of Augusta. The system additionally runs the Georgia Most cancers Middle in Augusta, and Roosevelt Heat Springs Rehabilitation and Specialty Hospitals in Heat Springs.

Within the 2021 fiscal 12 months, AU Well being Programs misplaced $28 million on $1.06 billion in income – which is the latest 12 months for which a state audit is on the market. Income included $30 million in state appropriations. The system has misplaced $63 million general since 2017, audits present. AU Well being Programs has been on the lookout for a associate since 2019.

The 2 sides say that the deal might additionally lead to an extra enlargement of the Medical School of Georgia by creating a brand new regional campus at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta. The medical faculty already operates a separate four-year campus in Athens, in addition to three two-year campuses for upper-division medical college students in Rome, Albany, Savannah and Brunswick.

The announcement additionally stated Augusta College and Wellstar would work collectively to develop on-line well being care to “create extra handy entry to care and supply extra individualized care no matter location.”

Wellstar runs 9 hospitals in suburban Atlanta, principally concentrated within the northwest suburbs. The system has confronted intense criticism in current months after it shuttered Atlanta Medical Middle close to downtown Atlanta and Atlanta Medical Middle South in East Level this 12 months.

Wellstar stated it misplaced $122 million on the two hospitals in 2022. However critics stated Wellstar pulled out with out giving native officers an opportunity to save lots of the hospitals, eliminating one in every of solely two top-level trauma facilities within the Atlanta space. This decreased obtainable medical take care of poor and principally Black sufferers, and shifted burdens onto remaining hospitals, regardless of its obligation to offer care as a nonprofit system.

Gov. Brian Kemp despatched $130 million in federal pandemic funds to Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta’s publicly owned hospital, to assist offset the influence of the closure.

The Board of Regents, which oversees Georgia’s 26 public universities and faculties, must approve any last settlement between AU Well being Programs and Wellstar.

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Augusta, GA

1 injured, suspect arrested after weekend shooting in Augusta

Published

51 mins ago

July 8, 2024

Press Room

1 injured, suspect arrested after weekend shooting in Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A 63-year-old man is facing charges after a man was found with a gunshot wound on Daisy Lane, authorities say.

According to the incident report from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to the home around noon Saturday, where they found a 43-year-old woman.

The woman told deputies she was inside when she heard her 34-year-old boyfriend honking the horn while pulling into the driveway.

The report states that when she went outside, he was bleeding and yelling that he had been shot.

The victim was taken to Wellstar MCG Health by Central EMS.

While at the hospital, the victim told deputies he did not want to press charges nor did he know who shot him.

The victim said the altercation happened in front of the 4100 block of Mack Lane.

Deputies did not find any shell cases at the alleged incident scene.

Tommy Addison is charged with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm or knife during a crime. According to inmate bookings, he was booked on Sunday.

The shooting comes amid an outbreak of violent crime that’s killed a little over 170 people across the CSRA since April 2022. Communities large and small have been affected, but as the largest city in the region, Augusta has been hit especially hard.

Authorities have blamed much of the problem on gangs, and many of the victims and suspects have been young men.

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Augusta, GA

Suspicious death: Body found behind house in south Augusta

Published

8 hours ago

July 8, 2024

Press Room

Suspicious death: Body found behind house in south Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A body was found Monday morning behind a south Augusta house, and authorities are investigating it as a suspicious death.

It happened sometime before 10 a.m. behind a house in the 3000 block of Abelia Drive. That’s in the Windsor Spring Estates south of Lumpkin Road. Abelia Drive is parallel to Mike Padgett Highway and runs between Windsor Spring Road and Lumpkin.

Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen said it’s being investigated as a suspicious death.

The discovery comes amid an outbreak of violent crime that’s claimed more than 170 lives in a little over two years across the CSRA.

The crime outbreak has affected communities large and small, but as the biggest city in the region, Augusta has been hit especially hard.

Authorities have blamed much of the problem on gangs.

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Augusta, GA

Suspect sought in early morning shooting

Published

15 hours ago

July 8, 2024

Press Room

Suspect sought in early morning shooting

The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for the Friday night homicide that occurred on the 2600 block of Peach Orchard Road.

Kieran Walters was named as the suspect and there is an active warrant out for his arrest.

Walters is considered armed and dangerous. He is known to frequent the Harrisburg Neighborhood in Richmond County.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking that any information related to the matter be sent to Inv. Tyler Steerman, or any Violent Crimes Investigator with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office (706) 821-1026 or (706) 821-1020.

Updated: July 6, 2024, 09:30 AM.

ORIGINAL STORY: The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is actively investigating a shooting incident that resulted in the death of a young man late Friday night.

At approximately 10:55 p.m. Friday, deputies responded to a report at a local hospital concerning a male victim who had suffered gunshot wounds. The victim, identified as Sadiq Brown, 16 years old from Wrens, had been transported to the hospital but succumbed to his injuries at 11:34 p.m. Friday.

Preliminary investigations have determined that the shooting took place in the parking lot of 2622 Peach Orchard Road, listed online as A Town Wings. According to reports, Brown was shot at least once before being rushed to Piedmont Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Authorities say Brown was reportedly killed during a marijuana deal.

The RCSO has deployed investigators to the scene and is currently gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses. The exact circumstances surrounding the shooting are still under investigation, and no suspects have been announced at this time.

An autopsy has been scheduled as part of the ongoing investigation to determine the precise cause and manner of Brown’s death. Further details will be released as they become available.

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