Grady Memorial Hospital - Problems and Restructuring

Problems and Restructuring

The hospital serves a large proportion of low-income patients. The hospital is supported almost entirely by Fulton and DeKalb counties, with little help from the suburbs or state, despite serving all of metro Atlanta's several counties.

The hospital board has long been reluctant to make money-saving changes that might reduce its traditional mission. In late 2006, it rejected the advice of financial consultants and its newly hired chief executive to close an expensive outpatient dialysis clinic for the poor, being concerned that many of the clinic’s uninsured patients, including many illegal immigrants, would have nowhere else to turn to. Others argued that the board of directors are politically clumsy, and prone to micromanagement. In May the board’s own consultants concluded that “Grady does not currently have the depth of leadership” necessary to transform the hospital.

In 2008, Grady Memorial Hospital was made into a non-profit organization. Numerous foundations have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to revitalize it. Michael Young beat out three other contenders for the position of chief executive officer. He was formerly the CEO of Erie County Medical Center Corp. in Western New York, University of Buffalo tertiary center. Prior to that, Young served for 16 years as president and CEO of the three-hospital, 530-bed Lancaster General Hospital & Health System in Lancaster, Penn. Young also served for eight years as vice president of operations for Shadyside Hospital, a 484-bed hospital associated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pennsylvania.