About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2020)
4A Friday, February 21,2020 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com LOCA^SOUTH Efforts against surprise medical billing move forward BY SUDHIN THANAWALA AND BEN NADLER Associated Press ATLANTA — Legislation that would protect some patients in Georgia from surprise medical bills that can run to tens of thou sands of dollars is gaining momen tum at the state Capitol. A Georgia Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday, Feb. 19, that would require insurers in many cases to pay for care by a doctor or at a hospital that is not within their network of medical providers and limit patient liability for those charges. Georgia lawmakers have been working on legislation to regulate surprise billing for years. A mirror bill is also advancing in the state House, introduced by Gainesville’s Rep. Lee Hawkins, and Gov. Brian Kemp identified the issue as a top prior ity for the year during his annual state of the state address. Hawkins’ bill keeps the issue between insurers and providers. If a patient goes to an in-network facil ity, they would be charged the in-network amount, regardless of whether their provider is in-net- work or out-of-network. It would be up to the insurer and provider to work out the difference, and the bill outlines an arbitration pro cess through the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s office. The Northeast Geor gia Health System is watching the issue in the legislature and has been working with Hawkins. “If we don’t pass a balanced bill or surprise bill this session, I think this is a failed session,” state Sen. Ben Watson, a Savannah Republican and doctor who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee said Wednesday after the com mittee approved the sur prise billing legislation. Surprise bills can come about when patients in an emergency end up at a hospital that’s not in their insurer’s network. Or a patient may have surgery at a hospital in network, but an anesthesiologist or other doctor that helped with the procedure is not in network. The Georgia Senate bill would protect patients in both cases from any financial responsi bility beyond what they would nor mally have to pay in coinsurance, a copay or deductible. “This system sets up a method that holds the consumer harm less,” Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, an anesthetist and a Republican from Rome, who co-sponsored the bill, said at the health and human ser vices committee meeting. Usually, patients pay a bigger share of the bill for any care sought outside networks that insurers form with doctors and hospitals, in part, to gain some leverage for negotiating reimbursements. They may also be on the hook for addi tional costs because out-of-network doctors or hospitals can charge them more than what their insur ance companies pay. A study released last year by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation found surprise bills follow treatment roughly 1 of every 6 times someone is taken to an emergency room or checks into the hospital. About half the states in the U.S. have approved laws that regulate surprise billing, but like the pro posal in Georgia, their reach is limited because states don’t have jurisdiction over most health plans sponsored by large employers. Those plans cover about 100 mil lion people and operate under the umbrella of a federal law. In Washington, lawmakers have been working on legislation that would apply across all types of insurance plans, from individually purchased coverage to workplace insurance sponsored by national companies. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have said they want to pass a bill this year, but the legislation is hung up in a dispute over how the out-of-network hospitals and doc tors should be paid by insurance companies. Times staff writer Megan Reed contributed to this report. Kemp Many dams lack emergency plans in rain-soaked South Woman accused of forging 88-year-old woman’s checks BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A Flowery Branch woman allegedly forged an 88-year-old woman’s checks and used her money without authority, accord ing to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. Wendy Marie Schwarz, 55, was arrested Wednesday, Feb. 19, at her workplace and charged with exploitation of an elder person. The person who had legal authority over the 88-year-old vic tim’s finances filed a report to the Sheriff’s Office Monday, Feb. 17. Sheriff’s Office spokesman Der- reck Booth said Schwarz allegedly Schwarz used the victim’s funds over a roughly six- month period starting in September. Investigators are still trying to deter mine how much money was allegedly taken. “Schwarz forged the victim’s checks and had the victim sign her own checks which were made payable to Schwarz, according to the initial investiga tion. Schwarz also used the victim’s credit card,” Booth wrote in a news release. No attorney information was available Thursday, Feb. 20. Schwarz was booked in to the Hall County Jail, where she is being held on a $11,200 bond. damage multiple roads or public utilities but are unlikely to kill people. The Yazoo County dam that developed problems during the recent rain storms had not received a hazard rating because of a backlog at the state regula tory agency. It was one of several thousand previously unregulated dams that came to the attention of the Missis sippi Department of Envi ronmental Quality during a 2016 survey of aerial images and geographic information system data, said William McKercher, chief of the Dam Safety Division. The survey doubled the dams in the state’s inventory from about 3,400 to 6,800, he said. Several years later, his office is still working to establish hazard levels for each dam, which would determine whether formal emergency plans and regu lar inspections are required. Emergency action plans are mandated for all high- hazard dams by 43 states and Puerto Rico, accord ing to a survey by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The exceptions include Ala bama, the only state without a dam regulatory office, along with Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Vermont and Wyoming. Even in states that require emergency plans, the AP review shows some dams still lack them. That’s because many dams are privately owned, and state agencies have limited pow ers to force owners to hire professionals to develop the plans, which can cost thou sands of dollars. In Georgia, state officials updated rules for emer gency action plans in 2016 to make it clear that dam owners had to complete them, said Tom Woosley, manager of the state’s Safe Dams Program. Since then, the number of high-hazard dams with emergency plans has steadily risen, although some private dam owners still aren’t complying. Dam owners who shirk requirements to develop emergency plans could face fines in Georgia, but Woos ley said he can’t recall that actually happening. In many cases, “the dam doesn’t generate money, so any money going towards a fine is money going away from fixing a dam,” Woosley said. BY DAVID A. LIEB, MICHELLE MINK0FF AND SUDHIN THANAWALA Associated Press When recent heavy rains swelled a private Mississippi lake and began eroding its earthen dam, Yazoo County Emergency Management Director Jack Willingham was scrambling for a plan. He had no contact infor mation for any of the home- owners who might need to evacuate, so he drove to the scene and began knocking on doors. “I was just fortunate that this was a small area and I was able to do it on my own, door-to-door, grunt work,” Willingham said. The dam just north of the state capital of Jackson — known as MS04462 in a state database — had no official hazard rating, no record of state inspections and no for mal emergency action plan mapping out the expected flood zone, whom to contact and whom to evacuate were it to fail. It’s one of more than 1,000 dams in Missis sippi that remain unclassi fied because of a backlog of work for state regulators. An Associated Press review also found hundreds of other dams lacking offi cial emergency plans that are located dangerously close to homes in Southeast ern states that have been swamped by heavy rains and severe flooding in recent weeks. The AP focused on high-hazard dams — a rat ing determined by federal or state regulators that means the loss of human life is likely if a dam fails. The AP review identi fied 578 high-hazard dams DAVID BATTALY I Mississippi Emergency Management Agency via Associated Press Area officials monitor a potential dam/levee failure in the Springridge Place subdivision in Yazoo County, Miss on Feb. 11. Heavy rains and recent flooding across the Southeastern U.S. have highlighted a potential public safety concern for some dams. An Associated Press review has identified hundreds of high hazard dams in the South that lack formal emergency action plans. regulated by state or federal agencies that lacked emer gency action plans in North Carolina as of summer 2018. It found 259 such dams in Georgia, 111 in Mississippi and 101 in South Carolina. Though the specific num bers may have changed since then (Mississippi now has 106 high-hazard dams without emergency plans), the general problem has not. “It’s important that every dam, and especially those that are considered high- hazard potential, have an emergency action plan,” said Mark Ogden, a former Ohio dam safety official who now is a technical specialist with the Association of State Dam Safety Officials. Emergency action plans can be useful for local gov ernment officials, emer gency personnel responding to a disaster and people who live in valleys downstream from dams. The emergency plan for Mississippi’s Oktibbeha County Lake Dam, which partially collapsed in a mudslide last month, lists the addresses and names of more than 100 property owners in the Starkville area who could be subject to evacuation if the dam fails. The plan includes color maps showing the potential inundation area and lists roads that would need to be closed. It also describes specific steps to be taken depending on the type of problem at the dam, with the phone numbers of various local and state emergency personnel who should be notified. Mississippi requires emer gency action plans for all high-hazard dams, as well as for some with significant hazard ratings, which apply to dams whose failure could Wednesday, February 26, 2020 from 9AM-Noon . The Venue at Friendship Springs 7340 Friendship Springs Blvd Ofriendship springs Floiuery Branch, GA 30542 The event will feature: • Demonstrations • Entertainment & Health Screenings Arbor Terrace Hamilton Mill mill provide an incredible brunch for all the attendees and vendors! SthcStmCS Megan Lewis gainesvilletimes.com 770-535-6371 Man accused of possessing lewd photos of children BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A tip from state and federal authorities led to the arrest of a Gainesville man the Hall County Sheriff’s Office believes had lewd photos of children. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the Georgia Inter net Crimes Against Children Task Force made the tip Monday, Feb. 17, regarding Clayton Henry Hardy, 34. Hall County investigators searched Hardy’s home on Pine- dale Lane in East Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 18. “According to the initial inves tigation, Hardy possessed at least 11 images of children between the approximate ages of (5) and 12 engaged in sex acts and lewd display of their bodies. The images were saved on an elec tronic device,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Derreck Booth said in a news release. Booth said Hardy also allegedly had one- quarter of a gram of methamphetamine in his possession. No attorney information for Hardy was available Thursday, Feb. 20. The case is still under investigation, as investigators will process Hardy’s devices that were seized from the home. Hardy was charged with 11 counts of sex ual exploitation of children and pos session of meth. He was booked Tuesday in to the Hall County Jail, where he is being held without bond. “Our investigators display a great deal of excellence on a daily basis, but the work on this particular case demonstrates the commitment they have to protecting children,” Sheriff Gerald Couch said in a statement. “A turnaround time of one day from tip to arrest just affirms the dedica tion our personnel have to the safety of the community.” Hardy
