The Georgia Hospital Association recently released a report showing Northeast Georgia Medical Center had a $3.2 billion economic impact on the local and state economy.
The report, which reflects statistics from 2019, showed NGMC generated a total of $3,293,684,240 in revenue for both the local and state economy and provided more than $59 million in total estimated charity care for the year. The estimated charity care did not include unpaid bills that are written off or the nearly $11 million NGMC provided in community outreach such as free screenings and health education, according to GHA.
While nearly 9,000 workers were directly employed by Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS), the system sustained nearly 21,000 jobs across the region and state.
The report also showed NGMC had direct expenditures of more than $1.3 billion. 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 $3 billion. 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 impact of a change in one industry on the “circular flow” of spending within an economy as a whole.
"NGHS is committed to improving the health and quality of life for our surrounding communities,” said NGHS President and CEO Carol Burrell in a prepared statement. “We strive to keep a healthy financial position so we can reinvest in renovation, expansion projects and new healthcare technologies for our patients, visitors, physicians and employees. This study is proof that we are growing the greater good.”
The figures in the GHA study only reflect the economic impact of hospital expenditures and do not include the impact of other services, such as physician offices and long-term care facilities, provided by NGHS.
