CMC Generates $183M for Local, State Economy

In 2010, generated more than $183 million 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, CMC absorbed an actual cost of providing uncompensated care of about $10 million, while sustaining more than 650 full-time jobs throughout Cartersville and the rest of the state. In addition, the hospital paid more than $16 million in local, state and federal taxes in 2010.

The report revealed that Cartersville Medical Center had direct expenditures of more than $79 million in 2010. When combined with the 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 $183 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.

“This new report shows that, even in these difficult economic times, Cartersville Medical Center has an enormous positive impact on our local economy,” CEO Keith Sandlin said in a press release. “We thank the Cartersville community’s unwavering support of their local hospital and will continue to work hard to ensure that the citizens of this community have access to health care services that are second to none in quality and affordability.”

While Cartersville Medical Center 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 continued cuts in Medicare and Medicaid payments and a fast-growing uninsured population. 

Presently, more than a third of all hospitals in Georgia are operating with negative margins. 

“We’re extremely concerned with the current operating environment for hospitals,” said Sandlin. “We’ve made a commitment to every citizen of this community to be on call for them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  But our ability to do so is being compromised when, in many cases, we’re seeing an increasing number of uninsured patients while the state is paying us far less than what it actually costs to treat Medicaid patients.”

“Our local health care system is indispensable,” said Sandlin. “It is the primary guardian of health in our community and is a key building block for everything else in our community.  It is our hope that, even in these challenging economic times, 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 Bartow county and surrounding areas.”