HB1299: HB1299 Health; allow hospital authorities to acquire, develop, operate, or equip certain outpatient healthcare facilities

Georgia law currently limits what county and municipal hospital authorities can do when it comes to owning projects jointly with private groups, and bars authorities from operating projects for profit. HB 1299 creates a new, narrow exception for rural areas. The bill adds a new power to the list of things hospital authorities can do (O.C.G.A. § 31-7-75) and defines a 'rural joint venture outpatient healthcare facility' as a freestanding facility offering diagnostic, treatment, or rehabilitative services for fewer than 24 continuous hours, excluding hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living communities, or personal care homes. A hospital authority could acquire, develop, operate, or equip such a facility if it sits in the same rural county as an existing hospital the authority already owns or runs, and if a single group of physicians practicing the same specialty jointly owns it. The hospital authority must control the facility and own at least 51 percent of it, while the physician group can own no more than 49 percent. The bill also amends O.C.G.A. § 31-7-77 to carve out this arrangement from the general rule against for-profit hospital authority projects, and defines 'rural county' as one with under 50,000 people per the 2020 census, excluding military personnel and dependents at bases in that county.

• Adds a new paragraph (28) to O.C.G.A. § 31-7-75 letting hospital authorities acquire, develop, operate, or equip a 'rural joint venture outpatient healthcare facility' jointly with a physician group.
• Requires the hospital authority to own at least 51 percent of the facility and caps the physician group's ownership at 49 percent.
• Defines 'rural joint venture outpatient healthcare facility' as a freestanding outpatient diagnostic, treatment, or rehabilitative facility open fewer than 24 continuous hours, excluding hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living communities, and personal care homes.
• Defines 'rural county' as one with a population under 50,000 based on the 2020 census, excluding military personnel and dependents at a base in the county.
• Amends O.C.G.A. § 31-7-77 to exempt these joint venture facilities from the general rule that hospital authority projects cannot be operated for profit.
• Requires that the outpatient facility be located in the same rural county as an existing hospital already owned or operated by the same hospital authority.

County and municipal hospital authorities and the rural hospitals they run, physician groups that might co-own an outpatient facility with a hospital authority, and residents of rural Georgia counties who use outpatient diagnostic, treatment, or rehabilitative services.

Rural hospital authorities would gain a new tool to expand outpatient services by partnering with physician groups, potentially bringing new diagnostic or treatment facilities to underserved rural counties, while the hospital authority retains majority control and ownership over the joint project.

• Section 1 adds paragraph (28) to O.C.G.A. § 31-7-75, authorizing hospital authorities to acquire, develop, operate, or equip a rural joint venture outpatient healthcare facility co-owned with a single physician specialty group.
• Section 1 requires the hospital authority's ownership share to be at least 51 percent and caps the physician group's share at 49 percent.
• Section 1 requires the authority to determine that the facility promotes the public health needs of the community it serves.
• Section 2 revises O.C.G.A. § 31-7-77 to add definitions for 'rural county' (population under 50,000 per the 2020 census, excluding military personnel) and 'rural joint venture outpatient healthcare facility'.
• Section 2 adds subsection (d) to O.C.G.A. § 31-7-77 authorizing a rural hospital or hospital authority to acquire, develop, operate, or equip such a facility notwithstanding the general for-profit prohibition.
• Section 3 repeals all laws in conflict with the Act.

1. 2026-03-03House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
2. 2026-02-18House Second Readers (House)
3. 2026-02-17House First Readers (House)
4. 2026-02-12House Hopper (House)

• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-011)Primary sponsor
• James Burchett (R, HD-176)
• Angie O'Steen (R, HD-169)
• Matt Barton (R, HD-005)
• Stan Gunter (R, HD-008)
• Matthew Gambill (R, HD-015)

• rural healthcare
• hospital authorities
• outpatient facilities
• physician partnerships
• health law