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.
