Media release from Atrium Health Floyd:
Dr. George Bosworth, former chair of Floyd Healthcare Management Inc., (FHMI) and retired Harbin Clinic pediatrician, is retiring from his board position and has been named FHMI Chair Emeritus.
Building on a family legacy, Dr. Bosworth established his pediatrics practice at Harbin Clinic in 1989. Over the next 14 years, he became a beloved member of the Harbin Clinic and Greater Rome communities. Using the law of averages, it’s estimated that he recorded more than 50,000 patient visits while in practice.
He joined the board of Floyd Healthcare Management Inc. in 2001, and his continued service on that board ends this month. He was chair of that board from 2012 through 2021.
The Bosworth family’s contributions to health care in northwest Georgia began in 1948, when his father, Dr. Edward Bosworth, helped found Harbin Clinic alongside Dr. Tom Harbin, Dr. Warren Gilbert, Dr. Lester Harbin, Dr. William Harbin and Dr. Robert Harbin.
Under the younger Bosworth’s leadership, Floyd became a leader in improving access to care for patients, investing millions of dollars in rural health care in northwest Georgia:
- A management agreement with Polk Medical Center in Cedartown
- A new Floyd Primary Care and Urgent Care facility in Rockmart
- Construction of a new Polk Medical Center and Medical Office Building.
- An agreement to manage school nurses in Rome, Floyd County and Polk County schools.
- A management agreement with Cherokee Medical Center in Centre, Ala.
- The establishment of 911-designated EMS services in Centre, Ala.
- A $1 million renovation and expansion of the emergency department at Cherokee Medical Center
These projects set the stage for the continuation of Atrium Health Floyd’s ongoing rural health strategies, including the establishment of 911-designated EMS services in Chattooga County, Georgia, the construction and operation of the state’s first from-the-ground-up, standalone emergency department in Chattooga County, and the purchase of a second mobile mammography unit to serve rural areas in northwest Georgia and northeast Alabama.
Kay Chumbler, former vice chair of FHMI and current board chair of Floyd Cherokee Medical Center, said she first met Dr. Bosworth when he relocated to Rome to assume the pediatrics practice of Dr. Harlan Starr. Then a young mother, Chumbler recalls that the retiring Dr. Starr reassured her about the new Harbin Clinic physician who would be replacing him.
“Dr. Starr said, ‘He is a great doctor. He is going to take great care of your children. You are going to be fine.’ No truer words were ever said,” Chumbler said.
As their friendship grew, Chumbler said it was Dr. Bosworth who first recruited her to volunteer at Floyd, first serving on the Dogwood Ball Committee.
“We have been through a lot,” she said. “Back when I first started with the Dogwood Ball, Floyd Medical Center was struggling. Nevertheless, look where we are today.”
She attributes much of Floyd’s recent successes to Bosworth’s guidance.
“Dr. Bosworth is a great leader and great physician,” she said. “Dr. Bosworth is all about doing what is right. What is in the best interest of the hospital? How does this decision affect our community? Those are the questions he always asked himself about any decision we were making. He’s a good listener. He listens a lot more than he talks, and when he speaks, it is of value.”
During his time as chair, Dr. Bosworth served as a champion for computerized physician order entry, and Floyd accepted management of Cancer Navigators. In addition, Floyd embarked on a $19 million renovation and construction project that included a new cafeteria service area, kitchen, 1 new, 23-bed combined intensive care and critical care unit, an 11-bed observation unit and improvements to Floyd Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Notably, under his leadership and guidance, Floyd Medical Center strategically combined with Atrium Health, now Advocate Health, to ensure stability and sustainability for the care provided by the area’s longest-serving community hospital. This agreement set the stage for further combinations with Northwest Georgia Medical Clinic and Harbin Clinic, the care group his father helped found more than 70 years earlier.
In addition, a provision of the combination with Atrium Health established Atrium Health Floyd Polk Health Care Foundation, which, to date, has invested more than $11 million in projects to improve health in the communities served by Atrium Health Floyd.
His tenure also saw the eruption of a world-wide pandemic that resulted in radical changes to the provision of health care in our community and the establishment of a contained SARS COVID-19 hospital in the main parking lot of Floyd Medical Center.
As his time as chairman came to a close, Floyd Medical Center also invested heavily in trauma care, including the hiring of trauma-specific staff and the construction of an onsite, raised helipad, resulting in designation as a Level II Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons.
