There’s trouble brewing at Jeff Davis Hospital

By TOMMY PURSER
Editor-Publisher
There’s trouble brewing at Jeff Davis Hospital.
And that trouble bubbled onto the surface Monday afternoon at a meeting of the Jeff Davis Hospital Authority.
The authority’s noon Monday meeting was approaching its conclusion when the authority members voted to go into executive session “to discuss strategic planning,”
That vote prompted me to ask for clarification on the purpose of closing the meeting to the public [See column on Page 4]. After discussion with the authority’s attorney Michele Madison with Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Atlanta office, who was verbally attending the meeting by internet connection, the authority voted to postpone its executive session, presumably to give me time to contact the Georgia Press Association attorney for advice.
That action came seconds before Dr. Jason Laney, the Chief of Medical Staff and a member of the the Hospital Authority, arrived at the meeting along with members of his medical staff.
They were informed that the meeting had been postponed.
Following the meeting, information gathered indicated that problems between the hospital’s administration and the medical staff had been developing for the past year, or perhaps longer.
According to Dr. Laney, in 2025, the medical staff submitted a letter to the authority outlining concerns they had about hospital operations, communication, and patient-care workflow.
The authority contracted Fisher Phillips law firm to review the hospital’s operations and make recommendations on how the hospital authority should proceed. After visiting the hospital and interviewing dozens of people in all areas of the community’s medical services, Fisher Phillips presented recommendations to the authority which included that the hospital should consider implementing a hospitalist program.
A hospitalist is a doctor who provides care for patients at a hospital. They have the same education and training as a primary care doctor, but specialize in providing hospital care.
According to Landon Chavis, who is the hospital’s Director of the Jeff Davis Foundation and performs other duties for the hospital such as marketing and physician recruitment, the hospital authority voted to contract with a hospitalist program. Through such a program, local physicians can either refer their patients who need hospitalization to a hospitalist or can continue to see their patients. Chavis said the program would result in having a doctor at the hospital around the clock, seven days a week.
Dr. Laney and his medical staff are strongly opposed to the plan. Among his reasons for opposing the program is the cost — $1.2 million annually as opposed to the $800,000 annual cost proposed by the medical staff.