AUGUSTA — Hospital leaders with Wellstar Health System on Tuesday promised they will not close down the core services of the state-owned Augusta University Medical Center, such as its 24/7 emergency room, if they are allowed to take it over.
More than 100 people came to an auditorium at Augusta University Tuesday to hear officials and members of the public speak out on the proposed takeover of the state-owned Augusta University Health system by Marietta-based Wellstar Health System. Officials for both Wellstar and AU implied that fears Wellstar might close down the Augusta hospital in the future were unfounded.
Wellstar CEO Candice Saunders and other officials said the contract with AU includes guarantees that would last for the first 10 years of the deal.
“We believe this will serve the entire community,” Saunders said, “expanding access to quality care for all Georgians.”
Calling its financial situation “not good,” Augusta University Health CEO Brooks Keel said the power of a bigger system like Wellstar was needed. Keel pointed out that Wellstar is committing to spend $797 million over 10 years in the deal.
According to testimony at the meeting, about $395 million of that money would go to building a new hospital and medical buildings in Columbia County, a potentially lucrative new project that AU fought in court to win. The right to build that project and to reap the rewards in the affluent county is one of the plums of the deal for Wellstar. Another is access to Augusta University’s supply of medical professionals and trainees.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The nonprofit Wellstar Health System has battled a public image problem since last year. It has been accused of being focused on making a profit from its healthcare facilities, after it closed two hospitals that served disproportionately lower-income people in Atlanta and East Point in 2022.
Elected officials at the city, county and state levels have expressed exasperation with the health system’s decision to shut the Atlanta Medical Center facilities rather than find a way to continue providing the community health services expected of a nonprofit hospital.
Wellstar had bought the hospitals in 2015 as part of a package including more profitable hospitals as well. The commitment to the two Atlanta Medical Center facilities lasted seven years. Wellstar has argued that it tried investing in Atlanta Medical Center but was losing too much money to continue.
Skeptics of the Augusta deal laid the groundwork for Tuesday’s hearing by submitting comments to the attorney general and writing public editorial comments beforehand, with a sharp message: They don’t trust Wellstar to stick by Augusta any more than it stuck by Atlanta.
“Wellstar’s actions raise questions of its trustworthiness to control a major state asset like AUHS,” two Democratic Georgia state lawmakers, Sen. Nan Orrock of Atlanta and Rep. Kim Schofield of Atlanta, wrote in a joint letter with the Atlanta NAACP. “We believe extreme caution is warranted concerning the disposition of this major state asset.”
An Augusta legislator, state Sen. Harold Jones, a Democrat, told the panel at the hearing that he favored the deal. That show of support prompted University System Chancellor Sonny Perdue to walk up the aisle after Jones’ testimony and give him a fist bump.
Speaking to a reporter afterwards, Jones said that it was important that Wellstar had committed in writing and in the public testimony Tuesday to investing in AU Medical Center and not shuttering its services. “I heard commitments,” Jones said. “I’m very confident they’ll be kept.”
Most of the speakers from the public were actually associated with one of the parties in the deal. A member of the Augusta public, president of the Augusta chapter of the NAACP, Rev. Melvin Ivey, said he was not concerned with the deal itself.
“My concern primarily has to do with providing that charitable care for our citizens who are not able to afford the cost,” he said, asking Wellstar officials that they agree to retain AU’s own policy on charitable care and not switch to its own.
A fraction of Wellstar’s spending would go to AU’s existing flagship Augusta University Medical Center, $31 million each of the first two years of the deal, and then more in the rest of the first decade, depending on how much money the hospital makes. Wellstar would assume AU Health’s debts.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Tuesday’s hearing was held by state Attorney General Chris Carr, whose office must accept public comment and evaluate whether the takeover meets legal muster.
In addition to the attorney general’s sign-off, the deal must pass muster with the Federal Trade Commission. According to the contracts negotiated between Wellstar and AU Health, the deal could also be scuttled if the General Assembly overturns the state’s hospital regulation system Certificate of Need. There are efforts in the Senate to do that, but not until next year.
In the battle of public opinion, the deal won tentative support from Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock Tuesday.
Warnock offered his “conditional support” for the proposed deal in a letter sent to Carr, and shared with the AJC.
Warnock wrote that the COVID-19 pandemic and “the challenges of being a publicly funded hospital” put the Augusta system in a “fragile position.” But he expressed concern about Wellstar’s sudden closure of the Atlanta Medical Center last year.
“Wellstar’s actions with respect to AMC raise questions about the reliability of Wellstar’s continued work with AUHS,” Warnock wrote.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
He called for the deal to include several safeguards, including a commitment from Wellstar to maintain current services at the main Augusta hospital for at least 20 years.
Warnock also said he wants Wellstar to let doctors, nurses and other staff remain in the Augusta area if they desire and not relocate them to other sites, as happened with Atlanta.
At least one speaker in the public comment period had driven from metro Atlanta to be there for the hearing. Kierra Stanford said she is a health care organizer from East Point.
“Wellstar shut down my community’s hospital but promised they would still be there for us; five months later they shut down Atlanta Medical Center in Old Fourth Ward,” Stanford said. “Augusta, my love letter to you would be to please be cautious in trusting Wellstar. I can only hope they continue to operate at the level of care you need.”
