Mayor Megan Barry has buckled to pressure and delayed until the end of 2018 her decision to close General Hospital. As expected, members of the Black community had denounced and resisted her decision but in recent days one of the members of the Council who is considered a conservative came out in opposition.
General Hospital is a failure and cannot fill its beds and serves very little purpose, yet the Black community see Meharry General Hospital as a source of pride.
Nashville General is the teaching hospital of Meharry Medical College.
Meharry is the second largest educator of African-American medical
doctors and dentists in the United States and has the highest percentage
of African Americans graduating with Ph.Ds in the biomedical sciences
in the country. Should General close, the mission of Meharry Medical College would not be jeopardized. Meharry recently partnered with HCA to train
at TriStar Southern Hills Medical Center, a hospital in HCA's TriStar
Health subsidiary.
General Hospital has long been a money pit. In the last two years the Hospital has sought $26 million in emergency funding in addition to a $35 million
annual subsidy from the Metro Council. As reported in The Tennessean
recently, a recent audit found that the hospital, "failed at basic
bookkeeping, unable to keep track of patient payments and major
expenses."
While poor management is obviously a problem, the real problem with
Nashville General is that no one wants to go there. Metro jail inmates
without insurance needing hospitalization have no choice and are sent to General and there is a
financial incentive for Metro employees to use General but it still
cannot fill its beds. The facility is licensed for 150 beds, staffed
for 114 and has an average of 44 beds filled a day. Metro General should
have been closed fifty years ago. Ever since the advent of Medicaid
there has been no need for a city charity hospital and the reason it has
been kept open is purely political. There is no federal or state law or metro charter provision requiring the city to operate a charity hospital.
I thought it took courage for Megan Barry to propose closing General. It did, but unfortunately Barry did not have the backbone to follow through and rally support. Facing other issues, such as pushing her transit plan, I doubt the mayor will invest political capital in trying to build support for an end of year decision to close General. We are probably stuck poring more money down this rat hole for many more years to come.
For more on General see the following:
Mayor Megan Barry delays closure of inpatient care at Nashville General Hospital
Why is Steve Glover fighting to keep General Hospital open? Very disappointing.
The Tennessean, December 17, 2017: Future uncertain for Nashville General CEO amid mayor's plans to end inpatient care.
The Tennessean, December 15, 2017: Hospital landscape in limbo as questions swirl over Nashville General's fate
The Tennessean, December 14, 2017: Audit: Nashville General plagued by financial mismanagement despite progress.
For previous reporting on Metro Nashville General issues covered in this blog, follow this link.
Top Stories
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment