Hospital Authority of Valdosta & Lowndes County

Purpose

The Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County is responsible for establishing policy and an adequate means of implementing policy associated with providing person-centered quality care to each sick or injured patient, for promoting healthful living and preventive medicine to the public, for seeking to provide optimal care at a reasonable price, for achieving and maintaining an excellent staff of competent and caring persons, for encouraging a creative partnership within the hospital community with mutual respect for the role of the public, administration, medical staff, nursing staff, and each individual employee involved in the provision of health care services, and for improving health care in Lowndes County and surrounding areas, while accepting any patient without regard to race, creed, color or national origin.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Responsibilities of the Hospital Authority are as follows:  (1) to provide for the management of all funds of the Medical Center, (2) to provide that all endowment and trust funds be deposited with a responsible trust company or comparable agency for investment, to receive prompt reports of such investments and seeing that the income, after deductions for legitimate expense, is paid into the proper fund of the Medical Center, and to insure that both principal and income are used in accordance with the terms of the trust, (3) to review all capital purchase requests over $25,000.00, (4) to see that a budget is prepared, (5) to cause an independent audit to be prepared and to receive the annual audit from a qualified certified public accounting firm, (6) to examine the financial reports and to require an explanation from Administration for any significant deviation from budgets, (7) to exercise general oversight of the physical plan of the Hospital as to additions, alterations, repairs, and maintenance, (8) to approve appropriate and qualified architectural, engineering, and general contracting services, (9) to receive and review recommendations on all matters concerning new and revised programs and facilities of the Medical Center, (10) to review proposals for the acquisition of real property, (11) to develop a long range plan for the hospital and to monitor progress toward the accomplishment of such plan, (12) to review recommendations from the Medical Staff Executive Committee concerning appointment, reappointment, and the awarding of privileges to members of the medical staff, (13) to monitor the performance improvement, quality assurance, and risk management activities of the Medical Center, (14) to review and adopt a Performance Improvement/Patient Safety Plan which delineates responsibility for performance improvement, and quality assurance activities in each level of the organization, and to monitor compliance with the plan, (15) to review Satisquest reports that measure patient satisfaction with SGMC services, (16) to review and approve professional contracts between the hospital and members of the medical staff, and (17) to oversee matters of salaried administration and employee benefits and oversee the administration of the hospital’s pension plan. 

Members

The Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County is comprised of eight members with four appointed by the City and four appointed by the County.  Members will serve a five-year term.

City

  • Sam Allen (Chairman) - Term Expires 05/01/29
  • Gregory Powell - Term Expires 10/01/29
  • John W. Langdale, III - Term Expires 02/01/25
  • Tim Dame (Member at Large) - Term Expires 02/01/26

County

  • Ben Copeland - Term Expires 12/01/26
  • Dr. Brian Griner - Term Expires 08/01/27
  • Dr. John Roan  (Vice Chairman) - Term Expires 08/01/27
  • Shirley Garland - Term Expires 06/01/29

Meetings

The Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County meets the third Wednesday of each month at 8:00 a. m. in the Executive Board Room at South Georgia Medical Center, 2501 North Patterson Street.  View the 2024 Hospital Authority Meeting Schedule.

Interested in Serving

Any City resident interested in serving on the Hospital Authority of Valdosta and Lowndes County should submit a completed General Membership Application and a signed Code of Ethics Form to Teresa Bolden, City Clerk,  located in the City Manager and Mayor's office in City Hall, 216 East Central Avenue, Valdosta, GA 31601. 

More Information

For more information, please contact Teresa Bolden, City Clerk, at (229) 259-3503 or E-mail or contact Mr. Ronald Dean, CEO, South Georgia Medical Center at (229) 259-333-1000 or E-mail.