Following the news that Wellstar Health System is planning to shut down its downtown Atlanta Medical Center location, Senator Reverend Warnock led his fellow Georgia federal lawmakers in a letter to the CEO of the company, expressing his concern about the potential closure and its impact on the surrounding community

Wellstar Health System is one of the largest health care providers in Georgia

Senator Warnock: “The Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center is less than a mile from Ebenezer Baptist Church, where I serve, and I do pastoral visits there frequently. I know all too well that this potential closure will strain Atlanta’s already stretched-thin health care system and jeopardize Atlantans access to care. I will be doing everything in my power to stop this closure”

Senator Warnock has been a leading advocate in the Senate for expanding health care access in Georgia

Senator Warnock, Colleagues to the Wellstar CEO: “We urge you to reconsider the decision in order to preserve access to health care, particularly emergency care, for patients across metro-Atlanta.”

Washington, D.C. –Following the announcement that Wellstar Health System is planning to shut down its downtown Atlanta location, Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock led a group of his colleagues from Georgia’s congressional delegation in a new letter to Wellstar CEO Candice Saunders expressing their concern about the potential closure and its impact on the surrounding community, and urging the company to “reverse course” on their decision to shutter the vital metro Atlanta facility. U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and U.S. Representatives Nikema Williams (D-GA-05), Lucy McBath (D-GA-06) and Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) joined Senator Warnock in signing the letter. 

“We implore you to rethink this decision and reverse course. At minimum, you must delay this decision until there is a plan in place, in consultation with the City of Atlanta and neighboring hospitals, to absorb these patients. We also request an immediate briefing from Wellstar that details the company’s decision making process and its plans for mitigating the consequences of any closure on the community, the local economy, and hospital workers. Communities need access to quality health care to survive, and we have no doubt that the closure of AMC will have direct consequences on the lives of people in Atlanta” wrote Senator Warnock and his colleagues. 

Wellstar Health System is one of the largest health systems in Georgia, with a location in downtown Atlanta – the Atlanta Medical Center (AMC). On Wednesday, Wellstar announced that it was planning to close the Atlanta Medical Center. 

“The Wellstar Atlanta Medical Center is less than a mile from Ebenezer Baptist Church, where I serve, and I do pastoral visits there frequently. I know all too well that this potential closure will strain Atlanta’s already stretched-thin health care system and jeopardize Atlantans access to care. I will be doing everything in my power to stop this closure, and work with Wellstar and the City of Atlanta to mitigate the consequences of any closure on the community, workers, patients and the local economy,” Senator Reverend Warnock added.

Read the full letter from Senator Warnock HERE or below: 

Dear President Saunders,

We write to express our deep concern at the announcement that Wellstar Health System will cease operations at Atlanta Medical Center (AMC) on November 1, 2022. This announcement is especially concerning given that another facility of yours, AMC South, recently closed its emergency department in April 2022. We urge you to reconsider the decision in order to preserve access to health care, particularly emergency care, for patients across metro-Atlanta. The lives of people in Clayton, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Henry, Newton, and Rockdale Counties, as well as other metro-Atlanta counties, depend on the continued operation of your facility.

As you are all too aware, the last few years have been extremely difficult for our nation’s health care system. We understand that hospitals have been struggling financially to keep up with rising labor costs, increasing patient admissions, and declining health outcomes due to various factors exacerbated by the pandemic. We also understand that Georgia’s refusal to close the Medicaid coverage gap has contributed to the urgency of these issues, forcing hospitals to front the cost of providing care for uninsured and underinsured individuals. We all know that doctors will provide care to individuals that need it, without regard for their ability to pay. We will continue to do our part as Georgia’s federally-elected officials to close the coverage gap, but we must ask you to do what you can to keep AMC open.

According to Wellstar’s Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) of 2022, AMC and AMC South together made up the largest licensed-bed hospital in the state with 762 beds. The community residents that AMC and AMC South serve are those that consistently experience more barriers to quality health care. The 2022 CHNA found that the community cannot access appropriate levels of care for a variety of reasons, including insurance status and lack of available providers.

Additionally, AMC South’s emergency department, according to your own assessment, was one of the busiest in the region before it closed in April 2022. AMC South was also the largest employer in East Point. Wellstar’s announcement about AMC South’s closing last spring stated that in-patient services will be consolidated at AMC in downtown Atlanta. We are extremely concerned about where those patients will go to seek care, if both AMC and AMC South’s emergency department shut their doors.

The consequences of closing AMC, an important hub for health care in downtown Atlanta, are colossal. Grady Memorial Hospital, which is few blocks from AMC and the only other Level 1 Trauma Center in the city, is already strained by the number of patient visits to its emergency department. The closure of AMC will force Grady to absorb those patients, when it is already operating over capacity. Emory Healthcare, which has a facility in midtown Atlanta, will also bear the burden of the closure.

We implore you to rethink this decision and reverse course. At minimum, you must delay this decision until there is a plan in place, in consultation with the City of Atlanta and neighboring hospitals, to absorb these patients. We also request an immediate briefing from Wellstar that details the company’s decision making process and its plans for mitigating the consequences of any closure on the community, the local economy, and hospital workers. Communities need access to quality health care to survive, and we have no doubt that the closure of AMC will have direct consequences on the lives of people in Atlanta.

Sincerely,

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