The Rural Hospital Stabilization Committee, appointed by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, issued a final recommendation to the governor to launch a "hub and spoke" pilot program to help keep rural hospitals afloat in Georgia.
Four of the state's rural hospitals have closed in recent months and 15 more are considered financially fragile, according to the committee report.
The proposed hub and spoke model will leverage four hospital hubs' technology to make sure patients are receiving the best possible care and relieve cost pressures on the spokes, such as smaller critical access hospitals, school clinics, ambulances, federally qualified health centers, public health departments and local physicians.
The four proposed hubs are Union General Hospital in Blairsville, Appling HealthCare System in Baxley, Crisp Regional Hospital in Cordele and Emanuel Medical Center in Swainsboro.
The committee also proposed to keep Certificate of Need laws and asked for $3 million in funds for the Georgia Department of Community Health's State Office of Rural Health to launch the pilot program.
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