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Phoebe welcomes counsel

• Phoebe wins approval from the state for two Certificates of Need.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — After welcoming the newest member of its management team, the Board of Directors of Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital heard status updates on several hospital construction projects during a brief monthly meeting Wednesday.

Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick welcomed Tommy Chambless, who served in the Georgia legislature for 16 years and was named last month as a vice president and general counsel for Phoebe Putney Health System, the hospital’s parent company, where he was a board member.

“Tommy will be providing legal oversight, as well as a number of other areas of responsibility,” Wernick said. “We’re certainly glad to have Tommy here, with his years of experience and wisdom. He will be a regular attendee at this meeting, and as needed from time to time to go into executive session to share some legal things with us.”

Chambless said he looked forward to working with the board in the coming years.

“It’s been a whirlwind start — nobody was bashful about coming into the hospital and dumping files on my desk,” Chambless said.

The hospital has typically hired outside counsel such as the Albany firm of Langley and Lee to represent its interests in lawsuits and in efforts to obtain Certificates of Need to construct or acquire new facilities.

The hospital, Health System and Hospital Authority of Albany and Dougherty County recently filed for an extension to Aug. 26 to respond to an antitrust lawsuit levied last month by Palmyra Medical Center.

Meanwhile, construction continues on Phoebe’s Tower 2, and Senior Vice President of Operations John Fischer told the board that construction of a sky walk joining the tower with the parking deck across Second Avenue would begin in about two weeks.

The hospital recently won approval from the Georgia Department of Community Health for a Certificate of Need to begin two other construction projects, the $13.6 million Willson Hospice House, where construction is set to begin in November, and $3 million renovations to the main hospital building for renovations for physical therapy and renal services, Fischer said.

Phoebe’s new PET/CT scanner, an x-ray device, is operational and serving about seven patients a day, he said.

The Chehaw Council of Boy Scouts has started renovations of a house owned by the hospital, where it will move its headquarters, he said.

Phoebe encourages non-profit organizations such as the scouts to occupy some of its properties, like the arrangements it has with Habitat for Humanity and the Albany Boys and Girls Club, Wernick said.

“We see these agencies as a way to have property not sit derelict, and at the same time all their precious funds go into activities,” he said.

The board also approved a resolution to continue providing at-risk perinatal services during the coming year, making it eligible for continued grant funding of about $280,000.

Under new certificate of need rules, Palmyra Medical Center submitted a required letter of intent July 15 to apply for a CON to develop basic perinatal services, at an estimated cost of $7.3 million, according to previous reports.

Phoebe also submitted letters of intent last month to apply for two certificates of need, to acquire a $1.85 million robotic surgery system and to make $5.29 million in renovations on the hospital’s fourth floor, according to the Department of Community Health’s CON tracking report.

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