Northeast Georgia hospital in crisis

The Ty Cobb Regional Medical Center at Lavonia, Georgia is in financial crisis, and the county of Franklin is coming to its aid. Two years after its grand opening, the hospital is in a crisis so severe that it can’t make its next bond payment, due December 1. According to Lavonia’s WLHR, it now falls to Franklin County to make those payments. In a press release this week, officials with Ty Cobb Healthcare, Franklin County and the Franklin County Industrial Building Authority said they are working together to stabilize the hospital’s finances and ensure its future. By re-structuring, Ty Cobb CEO Greg Hearn said that it does not mean the hospital is filing for bankruptcy. Hearn said hospitals across the country face similar issues. Last month the debt-plagued Oconee Medical Center joined the Greenville Health System, in a move that Oconee officials said was made necessary, in part, by Oconee’s debt situation and to ensure against the possibility that Oconee closes, as some other similarly situated hospitals have closed elsewhere in the U-S.