Grady Hospital to open new Atlanta area clinics more than a year after Wellstar hospital closures

“We’ve seen that many of our residents are relying on emergency rooms for health care, but health care should begin when we are well, and these new clinics will help make that possible,” said Robb Pitts, Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Once the new Grady clinics open to patients over the next year, they’ll bring the number of Grady community clinics to 11.

Grady Memorial Hospital has been the Atlanta area’s only remaining Level 1 trauma hospital since 2022, when Wellstar closed the Atlanta Medical Center (AMC) hospital in the Old Fourth Ward.  

“And so in the first year, we saw a 35% increase in trauma volume,” said Grady CEO John Haupert. “The other significant increase we saw here at Grady was in obstetrical volume, newborn baby volume. That volume went to Emory Midtown as well. Overall, when you look at the emergency departments that were impacted, they’re numerous. All have been receiving emergency patients that would have formerly gone to AMC.”

In the year following AMC’s closure, Grady expanded its inpatient capacity with 168 additional inpatient beds.  

Wellstar also shuttered its East Point ER in 2022. The health system blamed declining revenues for its decision to close the two AMC hospitals in majority Black communities. A coalition of state, county and city officials later filed two federal civil rights complaints with the Biden Administration, requesting a federal investigation. 

The new Grady deal replaces an existing agreement. Under the new agreement, Grady is also required to operate at least two new mobile clinic vans, offering mammography and other imaging services across Atlanta.

Also cited in the agreement is a plan for Grady, the authority and the counties to support legislative efforts to increase coverage for the uninsured through Medicaid expansion. Around 40% of Grady patients are uninsured.

Haupert said he’s making himself available to bipartisan lawmakers “as a resource” amid ongoing Georgia legislature discussions about Medicaid expansion and Georgia’s Certificate of Need regulations that govern where new health facilities are allowed to open and operate. 

Last fall, GOP lawmakers listened to testimony from health officials in other states, such as North Carolina, that recently negotiated changes to their Certificate of Need rules as part of Medicaid expansion. 

Gov. Brian Kemp told WABE, “Those are not my proposals.”

He’s touting the state’s other efforts to expand health coverage, including Georgia Pathways to Coverage program that offers a limited Medicaid expansion for adults earning up to 100% of the poverty line — currently $14,580 for single individuals — who meet certain work, education or other approved activity requirements.

The program launched last July, making Georgia the only state with a Medicaid work requirement. Enrollment has been sluggish so far, with fewer than 1,400 people signing up during the first quarter.  

Georgia House Democrats are continuing their push for full Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Georgia is one of 10 states that have not fully expanded Medicaid to cover people who earn up to 138% of the federal poverty line, or $20,120 a year for a single person or $41,400 for a family of four.

In the first official week of the 2024 state legislative session, Johns Creek State Rep. Michelle Au and Minority Leader James Beverly announced they are hosting a public hearing on Medicaid expansion. The hearing is scheduled for Jan. 10, from 1-3 p.m. in Room 515 of the Coverdell Legislative Office Building in downtown Atlanta.