Newspaper Page Text
■6- The Summerville News, Thurs., Dec. 21, 1972
6-B
Increased Nursing Home
Use Is Urged By GNHA
R Dean Fowler. President
of the Georgia Nursing Home
Association (GNHA) has hailed
a Government Accounting
Office (GAO) study which
urged greater utilization of
nursing home care as a means
of reducing the nation s sky
rocketing health care bill
After a year-long study, the
GAO announced its recom
mendations recently in an
800-page report and prescribed
massive overhauls in the
nation’s health delivery system.
The GAO-suggested reforms
include the greater use of nurs
ing home beds to replace hos
pitalization, expanded insur
ance coverage for out-of
hospital care, and prepaid
group practice.
Fowler said the report is
another indictment of the
nation’s health care system,
which has allowed costs to rise
to staggering proportions. In
Town of Trion
Yule Schedule
Mayor J.C. Woods this
week announced the following
Christmas week schedule for
the Town of Trion:
The office will be closed
from Friday afternoon, Dec.
22, until Tuesday, Dec. 26.
Garbage normally picked up
on Monday will be picked up
on Tuesday, the mayor said
Any emergency calls for the
gas department should be re
ported to the Trion Police
Department, which will relay
the message to the proper
person.
“We would like to take this
opportunity to wish each of
you a Very Merry Christmas,"
Mayor Woods said.
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the past two decades, health
costs have jumped five-fold and
totaled $75 billion last year.
The health care bill now
amounts to 7 4 percent of the
Gross National Product.
The GAO, Congress’
watchdog agency, laid the
blame for rising costs on
doctors, hospitals, health in
surance companies, and federal
programs such as Medicare and
Medicaid.
In looking for ways to cut
costs, the GAO focused on re
ducing hospital use. The aver
age cost of hospitalization
jumped from $32 a day in
1960 to s9l a day last year.
“The cost of building,
equipping, and maintaining a
modern hospital has become so
great that it is no longer
economical to use such an in
stitution for convalescent care
or treatment of chronic ill
nesses,’’ I he GAO said.
I he GAO reported that one
in four hospitals patients re
ceives a higher degree of medi
cal care than he needs and
cited convalescent treatment as
an example. Once a patient is
through the acute stage of an
illness, the GAO said, care can
be given in a convalescent unit.
Ihe GAO report cited a
U.S. Public Health Service
study which indicated that 17
out of every 100 patients in a
hospital on any given day
could be cared for in con
valescent facilities, where costs
are about one-fourth those of a
hospital.
“The American Nursing
Home Association has de
veloped a national health in
surance plan, called Chroni
ca re, which already in
corporates many of the GAO’s
re co mmen da t ions,” Fowler
said
Chronicare first received
national prominence last
October when it was intro
duced into Congress by Sen.
Hubert II Humphrey (D
Minn ) ANHA’s plan would
provide treatment for the
chronically ill of all ages and
offer an alternative to the hos
pital bed
"Ihe GAO study estimates
that reducing the average
length of hospital stay by only
one day could cut as much as
$2 billion a year from health
care cost," said I owler
Chronicare is designed to
utilize existing nursing homes
which would provide a wide
range of services ranging from
out patient care to intensive
nursing Ihe facilities, called
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Community Chronicare
Centers, would make lower
cost care for chronic ailments a
reality. Basically, Chronicare
would operate much like pre
paid group health plans or
health maintenance organi
zations.
Prepaid group practice plans
have been found to cut down
on hospital use by at least 20
percent, GAO reported.
Projected across the country,
190,000 beds would be avail
able for future use and $2.85
billion in hospital construction
costs would be saved, GAO
estimated.
Patients in prepaid group
plans also have been found to
undergo fewer operations than
patients covered by Blue Cross
and Blue Shield The GAO
cited a 1968 study which
showed that 3.4 percent of
group practice patients were
operated on compared with 7.5
percent of Blue Cross-Blue
Shield patients.
“It is a historical fact that
chronically ill Americans have
long been neglected,” Fowler
added, “and GAO report
proves that many hospitalized
patients could be better treated
in a nursing home, if for no
other reason than economy.”
But, GAO said, “The cur
rent system of health insurance
coverage discourages the
further use of out-patient serv
ices. Private health insurance in
the United States mainly pro
vides coverage of hospital care
and of physicians services asso
ciated with hospitalization.”
Fowler explained the fund
ing For Chronicare would be
through a trust fund similar to
the Social Security Trust Fund.
A federal payroll tax would be
imposed on employers, em
ployees, and the self-employed,
with the entire amount
matched by general tax
revenues.
Originally, the GAO study
was commissioned by Sen.
Jennings Randolph (D.-W. Va.)
in 1971 as a report on hospital
construction costs. But the
senate labor and public welfare
committee, alarmed by rising
health costs, asked GAO to
expand its report to include all
aspects of medical care.
Seedlings Available
MACON Ihe lifting and
shipment of the Georgia Fores
try Commission’s 1972 tree
seedling crop is underway, an
nounces Ray Shirley, Forestry
Commission director.
Shirley pointed out that ex
cellent planting conditions
exist throughout the state. The
rains of the past several weeks
have brought about the excel
lent conditions.
The Forestry Commission
has only 12 million tree seed
lings left for sale to Georgia
landowners. The initial crop
was 55.5 million trees, Shirley
added
Shirley stated that slash
pine seedlings constitute 81
percent of the remaining trees.
I he cost per thousand is $6.
He also announced an
abundance of red cedar and
Virginia pine. Both species
make excellent Christmas trees.
Ihe red cedar is also good for
fence posts, windbreaks and
hedge rows Ihe Virginia pine
grows into pulpwood and fuel
products Ihe red cedar is
priced at $lO per thousand and
the Virginia pine at $6 per
thousand
Other available species and
cost per thousand are catalpa,
white oak and sawtooth oak,
$ 10, and lespedeza. $7
A transportation charge of
50 cents per thousand trees is
added to the cost on all tree
seedlings moved from one nurs
ery to another due to stock not
being available or on seedlings
delivered to county unit head
quarters for landowner pickup.
lames C Wynens. chief, Re
forestation Division, said that
seedling application forms can
be obtained from the Forestry
Commission County Rangers,
County Agents, Soil Conserva
tion Service Technicians and
Agric ult ural Conservation
Program Officers All orders
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Financing Your
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COLUMBUS
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South Commerce Street Summerville
PHONE 857-2446
Supt. Nix
Has New
Concept
Jack P. Nix, Georgia Super
intendent of Schools, defined
his concept of educational
accountability at a meeting of
the Eighth Institute for Geor
gia Legislators this week at the
University of Georgia’s Center
for Continuing Education,
Athens.
“Accountability would in
volve the setting of educational
goals and objectives by a
school system, the measure
ment of student performance
in relation to achievement of
the goals and objectives, and
the public reporting of the
results of the measurement,”
he said. A system of accounta
bility will result in “improve
ment of the educational
program and individual student
performance by the application
of education tax dollars in
those ways determined by eval
uation to be most effective.”
Nix told the legislators that
local school boards, as well as
teachers and teacher training
institutions, must take respon
sibility for the aspects of
public education which they
control. In order to do this
more effectively school boards
should receive their allocations
in very broad categories that
would allow them to try new
approaches in response to eval
uations, he said.
Nix stressed the value of a
system of accountability in re
storing public confidence in
education. Public reporting of
the results obtained in measur
ing educational achievement
will keep citizens informed of
the quality of education being
bought with their tax dollars,
Nix said.
CARD OF THANKS
Our deepest appreciation
and thanks to the community,
friends, and neighbors for the
food, flowers, prayers, and
kind words during the death of
our father. Words can never tell
how much it meant to us. Our
sincere thanks to J. D. Hill and
staff. Every act of kindness is
appreciated. God bless each of
you.
The Family of James A.
McCullough
must be submitted on a Fores
try Commission application
form.
Wynens emphasized that
payment must accompany all
orders before shipment can be
made. No refunds will be made
on orders cancelled after Feb
ruary 1, 1973.
For assistance in determin
ing your reforestation needs,
contact your local county
forest ranger.
Sheriffs
Train
Twenty-nine newly elected
Georgia Sheriffs and three
deputies have completed train
ing at the Georgia Police
Academy under a program
begun several years ago by the
Department of Public Safety to
give these officers an insight
into their new duties as chief
constitutional law officers of a
county.
Public Safety Commissioner
Col Ray Pope said the pro
gram, co-sponsored by the
Georgia Sheriffs Association
and the Georgia Police
Academy is a graphic example
of cooperative efforts by law
enforcement agencies in the
State to promote profes
sionalism among police ranks.
Academy Superintendent
Major Giles Webb said the
44 hour course includes such
subjects as civil duties and re
sponsibilities, mechanics of
arrest, crime scene searching,
services of the State Crime
Laboratory, laws ot arrest,
fingerprinting, traffic enforce
ment, firearms use, civil rights
statutes, reports and records,
and mental health laws
■■■■■* •
111 * ) $ Hl
I I tin
||lk . ’I:
Mrs. Andrew Williams’ fifth grade art classes at North
Summerville Elementary School enjoyed making felt
Santas for the holiday season. The winter scene on
the bulletin board in the photo at left was drawn by
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ELEMENTARY PUPILS DISPLAY ART SKILLS
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Yohann Chung, whose home until recently was in
Korea. At right. Yohann points to a Nativity scene
which he also drew.