Northeast Georgia Health System has reached a conditional agreement to buy the Chestatee Regional Hospital property in Dahlonega, with plans to close the hospital and perhaps sell it to the University of North Georgia.
No date has been set for the hospital's closing. Under the terms of the agreement, CRH owner DL Investment Holdings, LLC is required to notify federal regulators of plans to close the hospital later this year - which would help assure existing liabilities are not tied to future owners or operators.
Meanwhile, state legislators have earmarked dollars in the state's 2019 fiscal year budget for the University System of Georgia Board of Regents to eventually purchase the current CRH property from NGHS. The purchase would require a final vote of approval by the Board of Regents later this year. If approved, the Board of Regents would lease the property to NGHS.
At some point in the future, the property would be used to help the Dahlonega Campus of the University of North Georgia (UNG) meet its growing educational needs.
During the interim, Lumpkin County officials will work with NGHS and other area healthcare providers to help ensure residents have access to emergency care. Lumpkin County officials said roughly 37 percent of EMS patients were taken to CRH in 2017; the remainder were transported to other regional hospitals.
"We remain advocates for our patients and staff, and vow to provide the highest standard of care through this transition," said Cathy Sanford, chief operating officer for CRH. "We're pleased this agreement provides the community and NGHS a fresh start to address the challenges facing small, rural hospitals."
NGHS already provides other healthcare services in the area, including an Urgent Care on Longbranch Road, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, including an OB/GYN practice, a heart center, and a rehabilitation institute, providing outpatient physical rehab services. Some NGHS physicians also practice in Dahlonega and serve or have served on CRH's medical staff. Lastly, a 57-acre property near Georgia 400 and Highway 60 was purchased in 2015 by the hospital system as a "forward-thinking effort."
"Our immediate goal is to assess what is needed to re-establish high-quality healthcare services in Lumpkin County after the hospital closes," said Louis Smith, president of Acute and Post-Acute Operations for NGHS. "Given what information we've received about existing resources, we estimate it may take as many as 12 months to complete that assessment."
"Our long-term vision is to develop an innovative strategy to promote health and wellness in the community while elevating the level of care, which will include evaluating the possibility of a newly-constructed facility on that property," said Smith.
(AccessWDUN's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.)
