An appeal by Floyd Medical Center to provide open heart surgical procedures has been denied by the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Community Health.
Floyd had said that the cost of open heart services at Redmond Regional Medical Center are higher than most, along with arguing that Redmond did not provide enough charity and uncompensated care to African Americans.
FMC also argued that it should receive a certificate of need because of high overall mortality rates from major cardiovascular disease in the area as well as low use rates for open heart surgery and high mortality rate from major cardiovascular disease that created a quality barriers for African American and other ethnic groups in the service area.
According to the ruling, “FMC did not satisfy its burden to demonstrate there exists an atypical barrier to Open Heart Services within its proposed service area based on cost, financial access and quality for the population it asserts experiences this barrier.”
The commissioners office said that they found several inaccuracies in Floyd’s appeal.
It is expected that Floyd Medical Center will likely appeal the decision.
RN-T contributed to this story.
