SCH plans meeting to discuss hospital finances, economic impact

Stephens County Hospital will be holding a meeting on Wednesday to provide an update on the Hospital and the Hospital’s impact on Economic Development in Toccoa-Stephens County.

The meeting will be conducted via Zoom and is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.

To attend the meeting on Wednesday call 1-301-715-8592 and input the meeting ID: 815 1787 7847 then the passcode: 944568.

As WNEG News has been reporting, the Stephens County Hospital Authority met with the Stephens County Board of Commissioners and the Toccoa City Commission with news that the hospital’s finances were in bad shape leaving the hospital with very few options moving forward.

One option presented at that meeting was for the county to contribute between $3- and $5 million annually.

Then at the Stephens County Hospital Authority meeting Monday, August 30, Authority Chairman Mark Wilkinson said the hospital could collect enough funds to stay open through the Georgia Rural Hospital Tax Credit.

“This Rural Tax Credit is a real thing, and the next thing is, we’re still looking at ways to save money here. It could have been a little bit worse; I mean it’s bad enough don’t get me wrong, ain’t a rural hospital, you name one around us that’s just still surviving. We’re not dead yet. And I’m not thinking that we’re going to need $3 million or $3.5 million from Stephens County. We’ve already raised $777,000 in rural tax that hasn’t cost anybody a penny. We’ve got to make the people of Stephens County understand that and we can probably raise more than what we need, I know we can. If we just do it,” he said.

Following the first meeting, County Chairperson Michelle Ivester told WNEG News that she was blindsided by the news that the hospital was so close to closing its doors.

“We are very disheartened to find out the financial state of our hospital. We were alongside the employees, last night, when we learned the news of their financial state. There’s going to be some decision that have to be made moving forward. We’re really hoping that the City of Toccoa will partner with us in making these decisions. Obviously, the Hospital Authority will be on board with making these decisions and whatever that needs to be done moving forward with the County Hospital; they ultimately oversee the hospital. We have no regulation or authority out there. This is not something that we can make a decision on; the way they run their hospital or the things they do out there. There’s a lot of questions that need to be asked and a lot of answers that need to be uncovered,” she said.

Again, on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00 a.m. the Hospital Authority will provide an update on the hospital’s finances along with its impact on economic development.

WNEG News will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they become available.