DeKalb Regional Health Systems generated more than $806 million in revenue and sustained 6,480 full-time jobs for the local and state economy in 2010, a recent report by the Georgia Hospital Association found.

The report evaluated the impact of DeKalb Regional, which includes DeKalb Medical, DeKalb Medical Hillandale and DeKalb Medical at Downtown Decatur.

DeKalb Medical CEO John Shelton called the report welcome news.

“What pleases us most from this report is that we ended up with a net increase in full-time jobs,” Shelton said in a May 23 statement. “That’s a positive sign for us and the community because the overall economy and job situation was still in rough shape at that time.”

While DeKalb Medical remains a major component of the area’s economic engine, the hospital’s leadership, like the rest of the Georgia hospital community, is concerned about a wide array of economic challenges that have made it increasingly difficult to meet the community’s health care needs, including continued cuts in Medicare and Medicaid payments and a fast-growing uninsured population. Currently, 34 percent of all hospitals in Georgia are operating with negative margins. 

“As this report shows, DeKalb Medical is a key pillar in the community and this relationship is important to us,” Shelton said.

The report used the economic multiplier developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis to evaluate hospital’s impact.

The multiplier considers the “ripple” effect of direct hospital expenditures on other sectors of the economy, such as medical supplies, durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

The Georgia Hospital Association is the state’s largest hospital trade association. For more information, visit www.dekalbmedical.org.