Hamilton CEO: Renovations to improve service

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July 11, 2012

Hamilton CEO: Renovations to improve service

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Jul 11, 2012, 09:50 PM EDT

Hamilton Medical Center is in the midst of more than $10 million in renovations that should improve care and help the hospital thrive, Hamilton Health Care System president and CEO Jeff Myers said.

“Hamilton is truly a not-for-profit community hospital. We are not affiliated with any for-profit organization. We are not affiliated with any religious organization. All of our focus goes on serving our community,” Myers said this week at a meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Dalton.

Myers said Hamilton has already completed a $1.3 million renovation of its service area, which includes the kitchen and cafeteria. He said a $3 million renovation of the hospital’s heart catheterization labs should begin within the next 30 days, and he said the hospital plans to begin an $8 million renovation of its medical intensive care unit this fall.

Myers said the changes are aimed at improving the care that Hamilton provides for the community as well as making Hamilton more attractive to people outside the Greater Dalton area.

“We have historically served primarily Whitfield and Murray counties,” he said.

Myers said Hamilton is also focusing on recruiting more physicians to replace those who plan to retire in the next several years, with a particular emphasis on primary care physicians, obstetricians and nephrologists.

“We have to be proactive on this. There’s a growing shortage of physicians nationwide,” he said.

Myers said that while Hamilton is a not-for-profit organization it needs to keep a revenue surplus of $16 million to $20 million a year just to maintain its facilities and equipment. Hamilton has net annual revenue of about $250 million. The organization cut about $12 million in fiscal 2011, primarily through renegotiating vendor and supplier contracts.

“Hospitals traditionally haven’t had a reputation for being very efficient. But we need to become more efficient,” Myers said.

He noted that in the past year or so Hamilton and local doctors have joined the preferred provider networks of major insurers such as Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia, making it easier for patients covered by those firms to use Hamilton. That was a big change, he said.

“Hamilton and Whitfield County had sort of been an island,” he said.

Myers also noted that Murray Medical Center became independent earlier this year.

“We did not own that building. It is owned by the Hospital Authority of Murray County, but we had a long-term management contract with them,” he said.

Myers said the split was an amicable one.

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Hamilton CEO: Renovations to improve service

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