Local & State Headlines

Palmyra fights exclusivity

• Albany hospital is battling for the right to provide health care services to city and county employees.

Carlton Fletcher

ALBANY — All but left out of discussions surrounding city and county employee health care benefit plans, Palmyra Medical Centers President/CEO Bud Wethington decided to take aggressive action to get his hospital’s foot in the door with local officials.

His plan, which included sending registered letters to members of the Albany and Dougherty County commissions requesting an opportunity to submit a proposal to provide health care services to local employees, appears to be getting results.

Albany City Manager Alfred Lott, during a City Commission discussion of Phoebe Health Partners’ request to be the exclusive health care provider for city employees in exchange for a higher rate of discount on claims by employees and their families (from a current 18 percent to a proposed 30 percent), said the city would not make such a deal.

And even after Assistant County Administrator Thomas Thomas endorsed a similar PHP proposal that was brought before the County Commission, Wethington was given the opportunity to outline Palmyra’s plan in a recent meeting with Thomas and Kirk Rouse, executive vice president of the county’s insurance broker, Doherty, Duggan & Rouse.

“I’ve been CEO of Palmyra a little over three years,” Wethington said Wednesday. “No one (from the city or county) has ever contacted me to talk about employee health benefits. We believe it is in the best interest of the city, county and Water, Gas & Electric employees and their families to have access to both local hospitals.

“Since we do not have the capacity to deliver all of the services that are provided (by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital), I felt that it served our interest to be more aggressive in pursuing this opportunity.”

Rouse, who told county commissioners they would have saved more than $600,000 in claims if the discounts proposed by Phoebe Health Partners had been in place during the last fiscal year, said it was in the county’s best interest to hear all proposals before making a decision.

“(A finalized health proposal) is unfinished business right now,” Rouse said. “We met with the folks at Palmyra, and there is some data we’ve yet to get from Phoebe, but we’ll look at all of them before making a recommendation. What we’re looking for is the best deal for the taxpayers in the county. They’re the ones who pay for these benefits.”

The city, which is part of a group employee plan with the county and Water, Gas & Light Commission employees, had filed notice last year that it planned to drop out of the group plan because of what city officials said were the inordinate portion of claims made by county employees that was shared by all entities in the plan.

After intense discussions, though, the city opted to stay in the group plan to take advantage of a number of high-volume discounts available, but to break with the county in negotiating with a broker. The county chose to contract with the local Doherty, Duggan & Rouse firm, which had previously served in that capacity for the entire group, while the city selected the ShawHankins LLC firm of Cartersville to serve as its and WG&L’s broker.

The same PHP exclusivity deal was offered to the city/WG&L, but Lott said he would not endorse such a plan.

“Health care is too private an issue for us to intrude on our employees’ wishes,” Lott said. “I don’t think the savings in discounts (offered by Phoebe Health Partners) is worth the goodwill of our loyal employees.”

Wethington, meanwhile, said that while Palmyra was not seeking any type of exclusive deal, it did offer fixed discounts that were more meaningful to the county and city.

“The fixed rates that we offer will be on a per-diem basis, so they’re based on actual costs,” he said. “If you base discounts on percentages, the amount of the actual discount changes if the price for services change.”

PMC Marketing Director Eric Riggle offered an analogy.

“If an orange is 39 cents and we offer you a per-diem discount on that orange, you know what the discount will be,” he said. “If you get a percentage-based discount on that orange and the price goes up to $1.39, the amount of the discount will change with the price increase.”

“If an employee is under a plan that has a fixed per-diem rate, the rate will not change if he’s in a room for a one-day or a 40-day stay,” Wethington added. “Irregardless of how sick that employee is, the (employer) will know what cost it will be responsible for taking care of.”

Two county commissioners, District 3’s Muarlean Edwards and District 6’s Jack Stone, have said they oppose any deal that includes exclusivity.

“I don’t want to sever ties with either of our hospitals,” Stone said Wednesday. “Phoebe is one of the greatest hospitals in the world, but there are some of our employees who want to have a choice in their health care. I had one of them tell me we would be like Hitler if we started telling her where she could go to the doctor.

“This thing is going to need four votes either way to pass, and I just don’t think you’re going to see us voting to cut one hospital or the other out of the loop for health care. This is not a personal thing, I just don’t think that’s something our employees want.”

Edwards said Palmyra’s status as a property taxpayer earned the for-profit hospital the right to be involved in county employee health care.

“I’m concerned about our employees, but I’m also concerned about the citizens of the county, too,” she said. “Palmyra pays taxes, so that certainly should give them the right to be a part of our employees’ health care coverage. I firmly believe in giving our employees a choice.”

Wethington said PMC pays “in excess of a half-million dollars” in property taxes each year.

Rouse said the negotiation process would continue for a period while he and county officials consider all proposals on the table. County Administrator Richard Crowdis confirmed that the process was far from settled.

“We’re doing our due diligence, reviewing all proposals,” he said. “We’ll take everything into consideration before going to the county with a recommendation.”

The county will hold one of its bi-monthly business meetings Monday, but both Rouse and Crowdis said they did not expect the health care issue to be on the agenda. Wethington said when it does come up for a vote, all he wants is for employees to have a chance to make their own decisions about health care.

“We’re very much ‘pro-choice’ when it comes to health care in that we believe an individual should have the right to choose where he will receive that care,” Wethington said. “And all we’re asking for is an opportunity to compete.”

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