---
title: O.C.G.A. § 31-8-1. Establishment and purpose of program; administration.
collection: code
id: 31-8-1
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 31-8-1 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-8-1
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-8-1.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-8-1/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t31-(v23)-2025-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=da7ded69_0#page=493
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/31-8.md
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index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Session of the General Assembly of Georgia
heading_path: HEALTH / CARE AND PROTECTION OF INDIGENT AND ELDERLY PATIENTS / HOSPITAL CARE FOR THE INDIGENT GENERALLY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 31-8-1. Establishment and purpose of program; administration.

In order to promote and preserve the health of the people of this state, there is established a Hospital Care for the Indigent Program to be administered by the Department of Community Health. The purpose of this program is to assist counties in the purchase of hospital care for persons who are ill or injured and who can be helped by treatment in a hospital but are financially unable to meet the full cost of hospital care from their own resources or from the resources of those upon whom they are legally dependent. The purchase of such hospital care shall be limited to the nonprofit basic cost of hospital care needed for the treatment of the ill or injured, as deemed necessary and ordered by the physician in charge of the case in accordance with this article and the rules, regulations, and standards adopted and promulgated pursuant to this article.

## History

Ga. L. 1957, p. 470, § 1; Code 1933, § 88-2301, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 149, § 31; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 1-4/HB 228.

## Law Reviews

For article, “Privatization of Rural Public Hospitals: Implications for Access and Indigent Care,” see 47 Mercer L. Rev. 991 (1996).

For article, “Rural Health Care and State Antitrust Reform,” see 47 Mercer L. Rev. 1045 (1996).