ATLANTA – State Representative Mack Jackson (D-Sandersville) recently convened the third meeting of the House Rural Development Council for the 2023-2024 legislative term at the University of Georgia in Athens. Rep. Jackson was named co-chair of the House Rural Development Council, along with State Representative Gerald Greene (R-Cuthbert), by House Speaker Jon Burns (R-Newington) earlier this year.
“I am immensely proud of the work that the House Rural Development Council has achieved in recent months,” said Rep. Jackson. “The council has actively discussed the needs of Georgia’s rural communities, and each of these meetings served as a valuable opportunity to glean insights from stakeholders and experts on various topics. We will take what we have learned over the last few months to collaborate on legislative solutions for the upcoming legislative session in January, and I look forward to continued work with my fellow co-chair, Rep. Greene, and all of the council members to provide positive outcomes for rural Georgians and their communities.”
During this convening of the House Rural Development Council, members received testimony from additional area experts and state and local leaders on several topics that affect Georgia’s rural communities. Specifically, the council continued to focus its efforts on addressing access to rural health care, particularly children’s healthcare and mental health services.
The council first heard from a panel of representatives from community health and school-based health centers to discuss the importance of these centers in rural Georgia. Currently, Georgia is home to 35 community health and school-based health centers that strive to meet the health care needs of all Georgians, specifically those living in rural parts of the state. Each health center is classified as a non-profit 501(c)(3) Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) with the support of the Georgia Primary Care Association and state funding from the Georgia Department of Education under the governor’s school-based health center initiative. The Georgia Primary Care Association provides technical support, staff support, resources and expanded services to all new and existing community health and school-based health centers across the state, specifically in rural Georgia. The goal of each health center is to fit the needs of the location and demographic of the students, teachers and parents within that specific community.
Georgia Mountains Health Medical Group, a community health center in rural Fannin County, shared with the council their experiences and successes providing medical, dental and behavioral health care through school-based health centers to the uninsured and medically underserved in the state. Georgia Mountains Health Medical Group reports that 16 of the 35 community health centers in Georgia operate as school-based health centers in roughly 100 school locations in Georgia. Two of those 16 school-based health centers are overseen by Georgia Mountains Health Medical Group, where a clinical psychologist, a licensed clinical social worker and a licensed professional counselor offer behavioral health care and access to more than 43,000 individual patient visits. Additionally, Athens Neighborhood Health Center, a school-based health center, discussed the importance and need for more school-based health centers across rural Georgia. Athens Neighborhood Health Center reported that when faculty, staff and students have proper access to health care, they are armed with the resources needed to support thriving, healthy lifestyles. Georgia Highlands Health Center, a community health center in Cumming, Georgia, gave the council an overview of the structure of their health center and provided insight on safe, affordable on-site medical services recently made available for elementary students at Cumming Elementary School. As of March 2023, Georgia Highlands Health Center has provided affordable medical and behavioral health services to their students, where services are administered on-site at their school-based health center. Georgia Highlands Health Center highlighted that their goal is to ensure students and school staff can receive the care they require without having to miss school.
Members of the council heard an update from the Georgia Association of Health Plans on Senate Bill 106, also known as the Patients First Act, which was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp in 2019. Georgia is among 16 states that have received approval of their reinsurance waiver, and, as a result of SB 106, the Georgia Association of Health Plans estimates that premiums have been reduced by an average of 12 percent state wide with rural communities across Georgia seeing the greatest impact. The association reports that consumers now have more choices for insurance with 98 percent of all counties in Georgia offering more than one insurance carrier.
Representatives from the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center (GRHIC) at Mercer University’s School of Medicine presented to the council and gave a summary of their mission to partner with local organizations and government agencies to build a stronger health care infrastructure in rural Georgia. GRHIC advised the council that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a critical need for connecting pediatric mental health services to Georgia’s rural children. As a result, GRHIC established mental health training opportunities that have been made available to Georgia residents living in rural communities. To date, GRHIC reports that mental health training, including ASIST suicide training, mental health first aid and community resilience mental health and wellness training, have been provided to more than 1,600 rural Georgians.
Representatives from Amwell Digital Health Solutions, a partnership organization that connects with insurance providers and health care organizations to offer in-person, automated and virtual telehealth care, recapped the positive impact of virtual critical care for rural communities and their hospitals. Amwell reported that since January 2020, their “Tele-Critical Care Program” has treated 162 rural Georgians, with 87 percent having been treated for COVID-19 and 13 percent treated for cardiology, gastroenterology or pulmonology care. The goal of Amwell’s “Tele-Critical Care Program” is to redesign the model of care in an effort to alleviate the stress of limited access to health care in rural communities, while positively affecting patient experience.
Members of the council also heard from representatives with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Mercer University School of Medicine with a synopsis of their facilities across Georgia. In addition, representatives discussed a recently announced partnership between Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Mercer University School of Medicine that is aimed at providing timely, quality care close to home for rural children. There are four main objectives to the partnership, including rural hospital support, rural pediatrician support, behavioral and mental health support and rural pediatrician pipeline support.
In addition to health care needs, the House Rural Development Council discussed housing and employment in rural Georgia. The Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity (GCEO), a state agency under the auspices of the Office of the Governor, highlighted a number of barriers to housing in rural Georgia. GCEO emphasized that barriers to fair housing often originate from lack of knowledge and limited accessibility to suitable and affordable housing for residents with disabilities or language barriers. GCEO informed the council of three possible solutions to combatting limited fair housing, such as establishing sufficient enforcement, providing education and outreach and creating meaningful initiatives to assist residents in rural Georgia who are seeking affordable and fair housing.
During this meeting, there was also a discussion regarding Georgia’s film industry and its impact on rural Georgia. Specifically, Georgia Matters updated council members on several new alliances taking place amongst South Georgia film organizations intended to create more jobs and support Georgia’s film industry.
The council will explore legislative solutions to these issues and others during the 2024 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly.
The House Rural Development Council was first created in 2017 to work with rural communities to find ways to encourage economic growth and job creation. During the 2023 legislative session, the council was renewed for the current term through the unanimous adoption of House Resolution 488.
More information about the House Rural Development Council may be found here: https://www.house.ga.gov/Committees/en-US/HouseRuralDevelopmentCouncil.aspx
Representative Mack Jackson represents the citizens of District 128, which includes Glascock, Hancock, Warren and Washington counties, as well as portions of Baldwin and McDuffie counties. He was elected in 2008 and currently serves on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Economic Development and the Health, Public Safety and Homeland Security, Reapportionment and Redistricting, Rules, Small Business Development, State Planning & Community Affairs and Transportation committees.
###