So, in closing, the Newton County Hospital Authority is very much still in existence & has approx a half million in the bank. Perhaps there are some out there that can clarify & shed some light. Is it not possible for the county government to be getting funds paid to it from the authority?Īgain, my knowledge here is lacking. Why the hell isn't Piedmont Newton paying more than $50,000 year!Īnd another one. I've looked into it but honestly I'm not 100% sure but I believe it has something to do w/ a local government not being able to affiliate w/ a for-profit business so therefore the authority has to remain intact to act a quasi-governmental middleman of sorts ( updated: Piedmont Healthcare is a not-for-profit operation technically *see addendum below)īut to me, the bigger question is this. The obvious question is why? Why is the authority still in operation? Apparently it has something to do w/ legalities. I looked over the checkbook & a fair number of the bank statements. the biggest outlay the authority's had in the past few years was in 2020 when they paid $25,000 as a "contributing expense" for the top floor of the old Faulkner Building next to the hospital to provide office space for a local charity - The Repairers of the BreachĪnd that's really about it. In 2021, apparently two audits were done for a total amount of $10,000 Also, they have to do an audit most years. Every year they pay for D & O ( Directors & Officers) Insurance in an amount that has fluctuated from $2,500 to $4,315. They get the money from Piedmont once a year. looking through the checkbook, there isn't really much going on. starting in 2018 that annual payment was reduced to $50,000 for the first three years of the affiliation/agreement, the authority was paid $100,000 per year from Piedmont their most recent bank balance as of about a month & a half ago was approx $547,000 the most recent meeting of the NCHA Board of Directors was 9/29/22 the affiliation agreement between NCHA & Piedmont Newton closed in September of 2015 & was for 40 years I'd like to take a moment to thank Billy Fortson for being forthcoming & willing to meet w/ me. We met for almost an hour & went over all of the financials & I even got to go through the checkbook the past several years. I scheduled an in-person interview w/ Mr Fortson on April 13th of this year. That back in the day, somebody w/ Newton Medical Center always took care of that.Įven though the arrangement became official in 2015, it appears that things operated as they always had up until 2018 when everything was completely separated between the two entities - the authority & the hospital itself.Īs of today, May 9, 2023, they still are not in compliance. He got back to me the next day on that & admitted that it had basically slipped through the cracks. That was basically the first thing I asked Billy Fortson, authority Chair, when I first spoke w/ him on the phone about this approx a month ago. More on that later.įirst off, per the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, the Newton County Hospital Authority is not in compliance & has failed to file its mandated Annual Authority Registration & Financial (AARF) Reports since 2018. No, rather, it goes straight to the Newton County Hospital Authority. It's just not going to the county general fund. At that time, those of us who'd been closely following (often in a frustrating manner) all the particulars w/ the peculiar structure of the Authority had initial cause for celebration, as this would finally do away w/ the extra millage the Newton Co taxpayer had been paying for the ambulance service & indigent care while (erroneously) thinking it'd also give an extra revenue stream to the county. A few of you may remember, going all the way back to 2015, when the deal was first struck w/ Piedmont Healthcare to take over Newton Medical Center. Well, that's kind of what I do, so I proceeded to investigate. After a fair amount of research & time, and after having interviewed the authority's Chair - Billy Fortson - I have this report to tender for your consideration.Īnd a quick aside. Further, this reader asked if I would do a little digging on it. * cross-posted at MB's Word on the StreetĪs mentioned in this space a couple of months back, an alert reader made me aware of the fact that the Newton County Hospital Authority (NCHA) was still in existence.
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