Just weeks before giving control of Habersham Medical Center to Northeast Georgia Health System, the Habersham County Hospital Authority paid over $400,000 in severance to four of its six key administrators.
Contractual release
The hospital placed the six employees of the administrative leadership department in an “early termination program.” However, the Hospital Authority selected only four of them for early termination under the provisions of that program. The hospital did not fire Director of Operational Support Michael Armstrong or Director of Nursing Valeria Lewis.
Armstrong retired at the end of April. Lewis is still employed by the hospital.
The Authority fired Habersham Medical Center’s Chief Executive Officer Tyler Williams, Chief Operations Officer Angela Harpold, Vice President of Culture and Wellness Kesha Clinkscale, and Director of Finance Susan McCrary.
Who received what?
According to their severance agreements, the hospital paid Williams $238,000 in severance pay. Harpold received $83,002. Clinkscale got $76,003, and McCrary received $11,539.
Their last day on the job was April 28, according to information released by Northeast Georgia Health System.
The cumulative total of the four severance payments is $408,544, equal to 10.21% of the cash advances the Habersham County Commission gave to the hospital in the preceding months.
County cash advances
Last December, Habersham County commissioners agreed to transfer $1.5 million in county ARPA funds to the hospital to avoid a looming shutdown. In January of this year, commissioners approved another $2.5 million in ARPA funds as a line of credit for the hospital. Those funds were to be drawn down incrementally to shore up hospital operations through the end of June as part of an expedited Option to Purchase agreement.
That expedited agreement gives Northeast Georgia Health System control of the Demorest-based hospital and all of its assets on July 1.
The original agreement, signed in 2019, would have run through the end of next year. Due to Habersham Medical Center’s financial spiral, county officials decided to unleash it sooner.
Documents obtained by Now Habersham show that as of March 31, 2023, Habersham Medical Center was operating at a loss of $3,873,218 (unaudited) for the current fiscal year.
