Atlanta’s Grady Shifts to Non-Profit, Garners New Leaders

Atlanta’s largest indigent and charity care hospital is less than a week away from being under new management.

During the past decade, Grady Memorial Hospital has fallen deeper in debt because of rising health care costs, dwindling government funding and fewer patients who can afford to pay for care. The hospital lost $55 million last year.

The Fulton DeKalb Hospital Authority (FDHA) said last week that it plans on May 20 to transfer the operation of Grady to Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation (GMHC), which is being incorporated as a not-for-profit. Hospital officials had expected to transfer management to FDHA on May 1, but did not receive regulatory clearance to do so. The GMHC also is still waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to approve its non-profit status, said Denise Simpson, Grady Health System’s media relations manager.

“There are a million little things to be finalized, but they’re all important,” Simpson said.

Simpson said the transfer will allow the hospital’s new management to raise money for Grady for much needed capital improvements and services. Under Georgia law, a government authority cannot engage in fundraising activities, she said.

The FDHA was able to reach an agreement with the GMHC to manage Grady Memorial after receiving $200 million from the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation last month. The Emory School of Medicine and the Morehouse School of Medicine agreed to renegotiate the contracts the physicians work under to allow the transfer. When the lease begins, employees will transfer to the GMHC with their current jobs and salaries, and the GMHC will be responsible for the operation of the health system.