Newspaper Page Text
Hospital Has No Plans To Change Policy
By LANE GARDNER
CAMP
Staff Writer
A lengthy discussion took
place at the May meeting of
the Forsyth County Hospital
Authority last week as a re
sult of some public outcry
against the hospital’s new
payment policy recently im
plemented in the emergency
room/out-patient depart
ment.
Throughout the May 26 dis
cussion, there was input
from members of the author
ity, Hospital Administrator
Joe Brandon, and Earl
Bonds, regional director for
Brookwood Health Services,
the firm which manages the
local hospital.
The end result of the dia
logue was no change in the
policy, but an invitation to
Forsyth County area insur
ance companies to contact
the local hospital for dis
cussion of exactly what serv
ices their policies cover.
“We’ll take any insurance
company. All they’ve got to
do is come tell us what they
will cover,” said Bonds.
Complaints from mem
bers of the community about
the new payment policy have
concerned the alleged denial
of emergency services as a
result of not having the
money or an acceptable in
surance policy.
Early in the discussion,
Administrator Brandon
asked the authority, “De we
relax the policy?” This, how
ever, was not before he
related some data which
showed a significant in
crease in collections this
year as compared to last
year.
With collections increased
and the emergency roo
m/out-patient department
not having seen that many
fewer patients, Brandon
noted that the new policy is
“not affecting visits that
much.”
The new policy, which
went into effect April 15,
states that only cash, per
sonal check or VISA/Master
Charge cards will be ac
cepted for payment of serv
ices rendered in the
emergency room/out-pa
tient department.
In a “notice to the public”
which ran in The Forsyth
County News prior to April
15, the hospital stated as
reasons for the new policy
Piano Students
Plan Concert
Piano students of Bonnie
Voss recently enriched their
piano study with a concert
and meeting with interna
tionally recognized concert
pianist Dino Karstinakos in
Atlanta.
Karstinakas presented a
COTTON COMEBACK
The demand for cotton
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the increasing expense of
having to file and keep up
with such a wide variety of
insurance policies and the
desire to continue to improve
the hospital’s physical plant
and services.
The new policy further
states that, because of legal
requirements, the hospital
will continue to accept and
file insurance on Medicare,
Medicaid and Blue Cross/B
lue Shield. It also will con
tinue to accept Workman’s
Compensation.
Persons with other types
of insurance, after paying
for services, receive an
itemized statement within 30
days of their check-out date,
so that they may file their
own insurance.
The new payment policy,
according to the notice, is
not designed to deny medical
attention to anyone in imme
diate need. Members of the
authority and hospital staff
have repeatedly said that the
medical needs of the patient
have precedence over the
ability to pay.
Several authority mem
bers stressed to Brandon
that a doctor needs to be the
one to determine whether or
not a given case is an emer
gency.
It was back in January
that the authority first de
cided to improve the hospi
tal’s bill collection and cash
flow situation with special
attention to the emergency
room. For the sake of “good
business,” it became nec
essary to make sure patients
are capable of paying for or
are covered by insurance for
the particular hospital serv-
they receive.
Hospital Authority Chair
man Phil Smith said at last
week’s meeting, “My feeling
right now is that the hospital
is no longer just a service to
the county, but a business.
It’s got to pay its own way.”
In other business, the au
thority learned from Bonds
that the merger of Brook
wood with American Medi
cal International, Inc. (AMI)
is now in “advanced
stages.”
Bonds said he would be in
touch with the local hospital
as soon as he knows some
thing.
If and when the merger
becomes effective, the For
syth County Hospital will be
managed by Hyatt Medical
varried concert and then
met with the students and
answered their questions.
The students will present
their own concert recital on
Saturday, June 6, at 8 p.m. at
the Cumming First United
Methodist Church. The pub
lic is invited.
Students participating are
Lane Bass, Amy Adams,
Lynnell Earwood, Alan Ear
wood, Keni Williams, Sef
Ford, Craig Wilson’ Renita
Pruitt, Jennifer Gundlach,
Jenny Carpenter, Brian
Sulka, Iris McGriff, Dana
Stubbs, Christi Hanison,
Brent Jennings and Trey
Jennings.
The students will perform
classical, popular and gospel
numbers in their recital.
Certificates and awards
will be given at the conclu
sion of the program.
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Management, a subsidiary
of AMI.
Commenting on the
change, Bonds said, “I think
you’ll not be displeased with
them at all.
“I really think Forsyth
County will not be at all hurt
by it,” he added.
Bonds noted that in seek
ing out AMI, Brookwood was
looking to continue its philos
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Poster Winners Announced
The Forsyth County Re
publican Women’s Club re
cently sponsored a “love of
country” poster competition
£ V
KB ' •
ANNE WHITE SHOWN WITH WINNER
...Stephanie Songer at right
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ophies of patient care. He
said money was not the first
consideration.
Administrator Brandon
announced to the authority
the results of the inspection
of the hospital by the Joint
Commission on Accredita
tion of Hospitals on May 22.
Although official results
won’t be available for about
two months, Brandon said,
for elementary school stu
dents in the county.
Approximately 250 stu
dents from Midway, Mash
point out, however, that the
oven does need to be pre
heated for some foods. They
say foods made with sugar—
cookies and cakes, for exam
ple should be cooked in a
preheated oven.
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“I think we had a good sur
vey.”
The hospital received no
deficiencies in the areas of
housekeeping, dietary, phar
macy and building and
grounds, said Brandon.
Citations, according to
Brandon, were for the fol
lowing: not writing for refer
ences when hiring new
employees, not having a
<ipgl
i ■
t
School’s Out At Last
The last day of school is often a day of celebration, just as it
was last Friday when Forsyth County schools let out for the
summer. Students at Otwell Middle School, shown here, were
especially happy to see the 1980-81 school year come to an end
as is evident in their actions and facial expressions. Besides
the smiles, though, there were also a lot of tears as students
said goodbye to their friends for the summer. (News staff
photos by Lane Gardner Camp)
bum, Cumming, Chestatee
and Sawnee Elementary
Schools entered the competi
tion.
The six top winners were
presented American flags.
They were Luke Covert,
Chestatee; Stephanie
Songer, Sawnee; Jennifer,
Lisa Thornton and Andrea
Cole, Mashbum; and Mark
Studdard, Cumming.
Ribbons were presented
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THE FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1981
cash flow budget, the author
ity not having a documented
program of continuing edu
cation and the authority not
having enough medical staff
representation.
Brandon assured that all
these matters were being
corrected.
In other miscellaneous
business, the authority:
• Heard a report from
for first, second and third
places in each of the elemen
tary grade levels.
The competition, accord
ing to Ann White, treasurer
of the local Republican
Women, is expected to be
come an annual event.
This year’s winning post
ers will be on display at the
Forsyth County Courthouse
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June 14.
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Brandon on the status of
proposed hospitals and hos
pital expansions in the North
Fulton County area.
• Gave Brandon permis
sion to continue looking into
increasing the physician
coverage time in the emer
gency room.
• Learned from Brandon
that the hospital wants to
work toward improving the
Volunteer Firemen Respond
To Four Fires In The Area
Tbe Forsyth County Volun
teer Fire Department re
sponded to one structure fire
and three grassfires and
stood by and three wreck
scenes during the week of
May 25-June 1.
A fire at a sheet metal
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outside appearance of the
facility— specifically the
grounds.
• Learned that Brandon
has been looking into leasing
(with the option of buying) a
data processing system for
the hospital’s financial office
for the purpose of faster re
cord keeping: billing, status
reports, census updates,
payroll, etc.
shop on Old Alpharetta Road
on Friday, May 29, was mi
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Carolene Glover, and was
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and ten arrived.
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PAGE 3A
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#43-284