Wellstar will close its East Point (Ga.) Health Center — created to replace services lost when Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center-South closed in May — in the coming months, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Oct. 24.
Wellstar will invest $5 million in Southside Medical Center, the primary care clinic next door to East Point Health Center, the newspaper reported. The money will help Southside expand its services and capacity — including expanded hours — to take on Wellstar's transfer patients. It will be allocated in parts through 2026, with some funds immediately going toward eight new exam rooms and additional staff.
Wellstar and David Williams, MD, CEO of Southside Medical Center, told the newspaper most patients in the Atlanta suburb of East Point do not require an emergency room and would benefit more from primary and preventive-type care. Wellstar said too many people visited Atlanta Medical Center-South and its primary facility set to close Nov. 1 to use their emergency rooms as primary points of care. This led their ailments to worsen, which strained the hospital's finances.
Wellstar is also closing family medicine clinics in East Point, the newspaper reported.
"We are collaborating with Southside to deliver care to patients in the South Fulton community and actively working with them to help patients find an ongoing medical home for treatment of their chronic and primary care needs and to increase access points to care," Wellstar said in a statement shared with the newspaper.