In 2014, Houston Healthcare – with hospitals in Warner Robins and Perry – generated more than
$482,014,494 in revenue for the local and state economy, according to a recent report by the Georgia Hospital Association, the state’s largest hospital trade association. The report also found that, during the same time period, Houston Healthcare provided approximately $22,400,628 in uncompensated care while sustaining more than 2,643 full and part-time jobs throughout Houston County.

The report revealed that Houston Healthcare had direct expenditures of more than $210,984,196 in 2014. When combined with an economic multiplier developed by the United States Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, the total economic impact of those expenditures was more than $482 million. This output multiplier considers the “ripple” effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy, such as medical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Economic multipliers are used to model the resulting impact of a change in one industry on the “circular flow” of spending within an economy as a whole.

“We are so appreciative for the Houston County community’s unwavering support of their local hospitals and will continue to work hard to ensure that the residents of this area have access to the best and safest health care services available,” said Cary Martin, Chief Executive Officer for Houston Healthcare.

While Houston Healthcare remains a major component of the area’s economic engine, the hospital’s leadership, like the rest of the Georgia hospital community, is concerned about a wide array of economic challenges that have made it increasingly difficult to meet the community’s health care needs, including a fast-growing uninsured population and inadequate payments from government insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid. Presently, 41 percent of all hospitals in Georgia are operating with negative margins.

“We’re extremely concerned about the current operating environment for hospitals,” shared Martin. “We’ve made a commitment to every citizen of this community to be there for them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. However, our ability to do so is being compromised when so many of our patients are either uninsured or severely underinsured.”

“Our local health care system is indispensable. It is not only the primary guardian of health in our community, but it is a major economic engine in this area that is responsible for over 2,400 jobs,” said Martin. “It is our hope that our elected lawmakers will do what is necessary to protect our local health care system and preserve access to health care for every resident of Houston County.”