August 16, 2013 ATLANTA, GA - The Georgia Hospital Association recently reported that in 2011 Putnam General Hospital generated more than $31,451,490 in revenue for the local and state economy. The report also found that, during the same period, Putnam General Hospital provided approximately $2,429,530 in uncompensated care while sustaining more than 279 full-time jobs throughout Eatonton and the rest of the state.
The report revealed that Putnam General Hospital had direct expenditures of more than $13,766,738 in 2011. When combined with an economic multiplier developed by the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis, the total economic impact of those expenditures was more than $31,451,490. This output multiplier considers the "ripple" effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy, such as medical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Economic multipliers are used to model the resulting impact of a change in one industry on the "circular flow" of spending within an economy as a whole.
"This new report shows that, even in these difficult economic times, Putnam General Hospital has an enormous positive impact on our local economy," said Darrell Oglesby, Administrator. "We thank the Eatonton community's unwavering support of our local hospital and will continue to work hard to ensure that the citizens of this community have access to health care services that second to none in quality and affordability."
While Putnam General Hospital remains a major component of the area's economic engine, the hospital's leadership, like the rest of the Georgia hospital community, is concerned about a wide array of economic challenges that have made it increasingly difficult to meet the community's
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health care needs including continued cuts in Medicare and Medicaid payments and a fast-growing uninsured population.
"We're extremely concerned with the current operating environment for hospitals," said Darrell Oglesby. "We've made a commitment to every citizen of this community to be on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But our ability to do so is being compromised when, in many cases, we're seeing an increasing number of uninsured patients while the state and federal government is paying us far less than what it actually costs to treat Medicaid patients."
According to Darrell Oglesby, our lawmakers must work to protect the health care system with the same fervor that they do other initiatives like education and public utilities.
"Our local health care system is indispensable," said Darrell Oglesby. "It is the primary guardian of health in our community and is the key building block for everything else in our community including education and economic vitality."
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