Emory Hospital – Caught With Their Hands In The Cookie Jar?
by politicalvine
By Ron Marshall, the New Grady Coalition
Atlanta’s public is just discovering the fault lines between two of the historic partners for healthcare, Emory University and Grady Memorial Hospital.
But this is not a new story. In 2000, Dr. Samuel Newcom of Emory University School of Medicine predicted that the expansion of Emory Crawford Long Hospital would result in “class cleansing” at Grady Memorial Hospital, with Emory cherry-picking the profitable patients for Crawford Long.
Emory fired the audacious Dr. Newcom but history has proven him right.
Grady fired other doctors and administrators for speaking out, including their senior Vice President, Joyce Harris. Harris, Newcom and others who sounded the alarm that Grady was in dire straights were shown how they were appreciated. These are the kind of people we need running Grady. Emory makes great doctors, and we love Emory. But Emory has not done right by Grady. It is hard to partner with a University that insists on competing with you.
Longtime Grady trustee William Loughrey recently revealed exactly how Emory pulled off this cherry picking scheme. An analysis by Deloit Consulting shows that Emory has understaffed the money making service lines at Grady, forcing Grady patients to seek care at Crawford Long or other Emory owned hospitals.
Grady trustee Dr. Christopher Edwards has publicly stated that the hospital’s biggest challenge is the fact that its “partner” – Emory University – is its biggest competitor.
Investigators with the nonpartisan Georgia Senate Research Office have shown what the community has known for years – Emory has exploited Grady through a one-sided contract where “all the benefits flow to Druid Hills.”
Emory gets use of one of the best teaching hospitals in America, absolutely rent free. Emory recruits tuition paying students all over the country with the promise of training at Grady. Then, in a weird twist, Emory charges Grady for the time its faculty members spend teaching Emory’s own students.
Emory already gets paid tuition by its students. Emory should be paying Grady instead of the other way around. But the exploitation does not stop there. Emory performs medical experiments on Grady patients and keeps all the research money and profits for itself. How much of its recent $1 billion drug discovery did Emory share with Grady? ZERO!
Consider the benefits Grady gives to Emory:
* Emory charges Grady patients directly for doctor services but Grady assumes all liability for Emory’s mistakes.
* Grady pays for Emory’s malpractice insurance, and if the claims are more than the policy limits, Grady pays out of pocket.
* Emory publicly complains that Grady owes it $45 million, but Emory cannot document over 90% of that amount.
* Emory has been paid millions of dollars every year without adequate documentation.
Emory is not double dipping. Emory is triple and quadruple dipping. Emory has accumulated a huge endowment on the backs of Atlanta poor. Emory pays its top officials multi-million dollar salaries while Grady struggles to pay its nurses and janitors. Whose team are you on?
The New Grady Coalition has consistently shown that as much as 10% of Emory University’s massive endowment belongs to Grady. These funds should be transferred to the Henry W. Grady Foundation and set aside now to secure Grady’s future. Emory should forgo the $45 million in undocumented bills that it has presented to Grady and stop threatening to shut Grady down.
Emory must negotiate a new contract that is fair to Grady. Emory needs to be mindful of its nonprofit Methodist mission and stop enriching itself at Grady’s expense. It needs to end the “class cleansing” and do right by Grady.
We must envision a Grady Hospital that is dedicated to the patients and respectful of the taxpayer. Grady exists to serve the patients in an efficient manner, not as a vehicle to enrich corrupt politicians or subsidize massively endowed institutions.
Emory and Grady need each other. Grady is a superb hospital to train superb doctors, who then provide superb medical care. It can and should be a perfect partnership. However, at present one of the partners unfairly burdens Grady and the public. Let’s make things right and catch up with righteousness.
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PV Note: We have not checked for the veracity or accuracy of the previous article that describes for how long and how deep the Emory medical apparatus has been screwing Grady Hospital. If you have a question, write directly to the article’s author, Ron Marshall of the New Grady Coalition
