About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2024)
E3 OUR REGION John Chambliss I Managing Editor 770-718-3407 I news@gainesvilletimes.com The Times, Gainesville, Georgia Weekend Edition-March 8-9, 2024 Alligator charges at Hall deputy BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Editor’s note: This published in a previous E-Paper edition and is being provided here for print-only readers. An alligator charged at a Hall County Sheriff's Office deputy Wednesday, March 6, in Gainesville off Allen Creek Road, according to the Sheriff's Office. The department's K9 teams were conducting a training exercise around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday near a pond off Allen Creek Road. “The deputy was laying a track for a K9 team when he heard a hissing sound and saw the alligator with its mouth open," according to the Sheriff's Office. “The alligator, estimated to be between 7 and 9 feet in length, charged at the deputy who was able to run up an embankment and evade the animal.'' The deputy was not injured, and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources was contacted. “While the pond is located in an area not typically accessible to the public, HCSO is encouraging citizens to take precautions around the water in that area, including the stream that feeds the pond," the Sheriff's Office said. ‘As a result of this morning's sighting, HCSO will be installing warning signs, cautioning the public about alligators, snakes and other wildlife that may pose a danger to the public.” Provided by Hall County Sheriff's Office An alligator charged at a Hall County Sheriff’s deputy early Wednesday, March 6, off Allen Creek Road in Gainesville. Taking action Rob Moore Habersham County photo Habersham County Emergency Services Battalion Chief Brandon Whitney and other personnel haul up the stokes basket carrying the injured driver. Firefighters pull woman from car after crash into ravine BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Editor’s note: This published in a previous E-Paper edition and is being provided here for print-only readers. A woman was rescued Monday, March 4, after a wreck sent her car into a Habersham County ravine and trapped her inside the vehicle, according to authorities. The single-vehicle wreck happened around 5:30 p.m. Monday on Crane Mill Road near Mud Creek Road. Personnel from Habersham County Emergency Services, Baldwin Fire, Cornelia Fire, the Habersham County Sheriff's Office and a Gainesville Fire unit in the area responded to the call. Habersham County Emergency Services Chief Brandon Whitney said the woman “ran off the road approximately 70 feet down an embankment.” “It appears her car has rolled multiple times,” Whitney said in a news release. “She was entrapped inside the vehicle. The patient did have to be extricated, the door removed, and she was removed from the vehicle at this time and secured in a stokes basket with a backboard.” The woman was transported to the hospital. Georgia State Patrol is investigating the wreck. Provided by Habersham County Fire department personnel from Gainesville, Baldwin and Habersham County tend to a trapped driver inside her vehicle on Crane Mill Road near Mud Creek Road. Liquor store could replace old DUI school An old DUI school could become a liquor store, with a recent rezoning approval in Oakwood. Jeff Gill The Times BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Editor’s note: This published in a previous E-Paper edition and is being provided here for print-only readers. Class is over at the DUI and defensive driving school. Next on tap could be a liquor store. Oakwood City Council has voted to rezone a .28-acre site at 4516 McEver Road to a commercial designation allowing for a liquor store, among other uses. “The liquor store was brought up only because that is what was under discussion by the buyer and had previously been discussed at the (Oakwood Planning Commission) meeting,” said Steve Gilliam, a Gainesville lawyer who served as the rezoning applicant. “No decision has been made as to the final use. ... The buyer is looking for uses that would not require tearing the building down.” The property went through a recent sale. The new owner, Michael Brunner, of Atlanta-based Deal Team EEC, declined comment. The inside of the building will be “refurbished for commercial retail use,” states a letter from Gilliam to Oakwood. “There will be no destruction or removal of the existing building footprint or exterior walls. The exterior will be painted with updated colors and windows.” The history of the property wasn't available, but Hall County property records show a 2014 photo of an Absolute Education building at the property. Absolute served as a DUI and defensive driving school. The property has been valued at $267,400, records show. According to the rezoning application, “Putting the building back in use would prevent blight and provide retail commodities to the community.” It sits in a growing area off McEver, with McEver Mill townhomes across the road and a new subdivision, Brannon Ridge, off nearby Stephens Road. Also, a new Harbor Food Market convenience store/gas station has been developed at the comer of McEver and Old Flowery Branch Road. Hall medical providers affected by cyberattack BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com Editor’s note: This published in a previous E-Paper edition and is being provided here for print-only readers. One of the most serious cyberattacks on the healthcare system in U.S. history has not spared medical providers in Northeast Georgia. Change Healthcare, which connects insurance companies and medical providers and processes 14 billion transactions a year, was breached Feb. 21 by what the American Hospital Association has called “the most significant cyberattack on the U.S. health care system in American history.” “Change Healthcare is the predominant source of more than 100 critical functions that keep the health care system operating,” AHA wrote in a letter urging Congress to take action. “Significant portions of Change Healthcare's function ality have been crippled. As a result, patients have straggled to get timely access to care and billions of dollars have stopped flowing to providers, thereby threatening the financial viabil ity of hospitals, health systems, physician offices and other providers.” Northeast Georgia Health System, which serves more than one million people across more than 18 counties, said in a statement Wednesday that the hack has impacted their phar macy services and led to delays in processing about $2 million in insurance claims. “NGHS typically uses Change Healthcare to help us pro cess some pharmacy benefits, but our IT Security teams moved quickly to sever any link to Change as soon as we were aware of their issues,” health system spokesman Layne Saliba said. “Thankfully, that disconnect doesn't impact our ability to process prescriptions for people who are in the hospital or our long-term care centers.” “It has, however, kept us from confirming pharmacy ben efits for people who depend on us to fill their routine pre scriptions — which leads to higher out-of-pocket costs. In instances where that cost increase is high, we're helping those customers have their prescription filled at a different phar macy that can process their benefits,” Saliba said. “We've also ran into some issues with a few healthcare insurance compa nies/payors that use Change Healthcare at some point in their business processes, which has led to a little more than $2 mil lion in claims for care we've provided that we can't accurately bill those payors for yet. The downstream impact is that some patients may see a delay in receiving their final bill.” NGHS declined to make any of its officials available for an interview. Longstreet Clinic CEO Mimi Collins said the hack has fro zen about $1 million in insurance claims, impacting about 5% of its nearly 250,000 patients. Collins said the hack will not lead to a halt in service for those patients. “We won't change any of how we care for patients and accept patients on those insurance plans,” she said. “There'll be no disruption to patient care.” “For us, what that means is that we have a delay in revenue received on those services from those patients,” she added. Longstreet did not immediately have more information about how much cash it has on hand or how long it will be able to cover those expenses. “The urgency of this matter grows by the day,” AHA's let ter states. “The staggering loss of revenue means that some hospitals and health systems may be unable to pay salaries for clinicians and other members of the care team, acquire necessary medicines and supplies, and pay for mission critical contract work in areas such as physical security, dietary and environmental services.” About 73% of hospitals nationally have enough cash on hand to cover expenses for 150 days, according to a 2022 analysis by KFF, a nonprofit organization that studies health policy. Collins said the two health insurance companies that have been impacted are Affiant Health Plans and Peach State Health Plan. She said those companies have told her that it could be three to four weeks before the frozen claims can be processed. “It's what I would call yellow watch,” she said, referring to the level of severity. “We're on top of it. We're monitoring it closely. Our revenue cycle team is reporting to me daily the additional claims that are affected, and we're working with the (affected insurance companies) to understand the solution.” Northside Hospital System has also been hit. “We were impacted,” Northside spokeswoman Katherine Watson said over email. “After the incident occurred, North- side quickly disconnected from the Change Healthcare func tions and has implemented alternate programs for the time being. Our billing and payment processes are working well and business has not been disrupted. We are monitoring the situation.” Northside did not immediately respond to a request for more information about how many of its patients have been impacted. Change Healthcare, owned by UnitedHealth Group, con firmed last week that ransomware group ALPHV, or Blackcat, made the breach. Reuters reported earlier this week that a “post on a hacker forum popular with cybercriminals has claimed United Health Group ... paid $22 million in a bid to recover access to data and systems encrypted by the ‘Blackcat’ ransomware gang.” Cybersecurity experts say ransomware attacks have increased substantially in recent years, especially in the health care sector. This one comes on the heels of an attack last month on a children's hospital in Chicago, which had to take phone, email and medical records systems offline. Health insurance companies Humana and Elevance Health said during an industry conference March 5 that they were seeing a 15% to 20% reduction in data from providers after the Change Healthcare hack, according to Fierce Healthcare news agency. The federal government on Tuesday announced that it would be rolling out flexibilities for healthcare providers as they continue to deal with the fallout from the cyberattack. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would be taking “immediate steps” to assist provid ers to continue to serve patients.
