Senators, Ladies and Gentlemen of the 2018 Senate CON Committee:
Just a note to say thank you for the opportunity to share a few comments with you this week about the issues of rural health care in Georgia. Forasmuch as I did not have prepared notes to speak from, I thought it worthwhile to recap and send to you the talking points of that session as best I remember them. So they are included in the below comments that I have sent to HomeTown’s members. Additionally, I have included two other items that are particularly relevant for the CON issues. They are as follows:
- The recorded video clip of my presentation to the House Rural Development Council give in Statesboro on September 25, 2018. This may further clarify the issues as we see them and I believe you may find these fascinating as well.
- Additionally, you will find a White Paper Commentary that was sent to the membership of HomeTown for the purpose of outlining major issues as it relates to CON. This commentary was also based on the 30 or so rural hospital visits that we made since April 2018 and the two policy maker tours that we made that included on the first trip Appropriations Chairman Terry England, House Budget Director Martha Wigton, and House Legislative Counsel Betsy Howerton and on the second trip DCH Medicaid Chief and Deputy DCH Commissioner Blake Fulenwider and Deputy DCH Commissioner Kate Pfirman( these trips cover 8 hospitals in 500 miles in two days over a large part of the state. – they book out usually a year in advance. If you should have interest I participating in a trip I could get you a typical agenda to review) . This paper may clarify a number of issues for rural health care.
Would appreciate your comments as to whether these comments are helpful to you. We periodically issue white papers on rural issues and if you would like to receive these please let me know. These emails will come from my email address – the [email protected]
Thanks,
Jimmy Lewis
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