Members of the Metro Council’s health committee are asking that the city rethink the current approach to funding General Hospital.
The consulting firm hired by Nashville Mayor Karl Dean to chart a new, cheaper course for treating the uninsured is conducting interviews with providers and politicians.
General Hospital remains the key component to Metro Government’s care of indigent patients. But at-large Councilman Jerry Maynard says the institution is set up to fail.
“We have to say, what do you need, General Hospital, so that you can become viable, so that you can run a surplus, so that you can provide care for the indigent and increase the number of people in the beds.”
Instead, the Council has whittled away General’s annual subsidy while asking the hospital to maintain services. The body even approved the hospital’s budget proposal this year that runs a 1.5-million dollar deficit.
The Health Committee asked consultants to consider the financing structure for General Hospital in their recommendations, due out in the next six months. The facility is never guaranteed funding from the city which has made it difficult to get credit or make long-range plans.
Metro’s Consultants are also talking with clinics, the Health Department and local hospitals to help create a system of indigent care.
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