NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell is putting the future of the city’s public hospital under a formal review. At his weekly media roundtable Friday, he announced a vision committee to study Nashville General Hospital, from the buildings it uses to where it should be located and how it works with Meharry Medical College.
The panel will draw on civic leaders, health care experts and community members, and O’Connell said he would like its recommendations in roughly six to eight months. Its members had not been named yet. He said no decision has been made on whether the hospital stays where it is or relocates.
Nashville General has operated from its current site since 1998 and leases space from Meharry, so the mayor said the hospital’s plans need to fit the college’s own direction. The committee follows a professional services agreement between the hospital and Meharry and the hospital’s choice of Dr. Veronica Elders as its permanent chief executive.
The hospital treats patients whether or not they can pay. The city puts its unreimbursed care at about $60 million a year, and its food pharmacy has handed out more than 700,000 meals. O’Connell said the aim is a plan that protects patient care while keeping costs to taxpayers in check.
The mayor also reminded residents that a lower grocery tax arrives this weekend. Beginning Sunday, the local tax on groceries drops by 22 percent, which the mayor’s office estimates will leave $8 million to $9 million a year in shoppers’ pockets. He described the savings as roughly the cost of one extra grocery run per family over a year.
Also on Sunday, the Choose How You Move transportation program marks two years with a celebration at the Nashville SC Fan Fest at GEODIS Park, with no-cost WeGo service to the match on Routes 52 and 77.
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Filed under: Nashville TN Politics News
