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Public Health urges expansion of home‑visiting, reassures on newborn screening and lab readiness ahead of large events
Summary
The Georgia Department of Public Health told the Appropriations for Healthcare Committee it has expanded home‑visiting from 21 to 75 counties, estimates $112,600 per county to add services and identified an $8.9 million cost to reach the remaining non‑served counties; the agency also affirmed newborn screening remains available and described lab preparations for large events including FIFA activities in Atlanta.
Dr. Toomey, presenting for the Georgia Department of Public Health, told the Appropriations for Healthcare Committee the agency has broadened its home‑visiting program and is targeting counties without obstetric providers.
The most immediate ask from the department was funding to complete the program’s statewide rollout. "Our expansion would allow us to expand to all the counties without an OB GYN provider," Dr. Toomey said, and she told members the incremental cost to add a county is about $112,600; expanding to the roughly 79 currently unserved counties would total about $8.9 million. The program pairs community health workers from local communities with registered‑nurse supervision and blends multiple federal home‑visiting models to address maternal and infant health.
The department framed the expansion as a response to persistently high infant mortality and maternal‑health needs, noting the maternal mortality review committee recommended home visiting as a core strategy. Dr. Toomey said the program can enroll women at any point during pregnancy and highlighted vignettes and outcome measures in a handout provided to the committee.
Dr. Toomey also emphasized laboratory capacity and readiness. She described two public‑health laboratories (Claremont and Waycross), invited committee members to tour them and said staff are doing preparatory testing "so that we can monitor for bioterrorism and other kinds of potential pathogens" as large international events approach.
On newborn screening, committee members asked whether recent CDC guidance would change newborn practice in Georgia. Dr. Toomey replied the state has its own advisory committee and will continue to rely on external clinical guidance, asserting newborn screening remains available. "I don't feel that at this time, we are going to have any harm here because we have so many assets in terms of external technical resources," she said, and added that the vaccine supply for hepatitis remains available through the Vaccines for Children program.
The department emphasized federal funding’s central role: about half of the agency’s budget comes from federal grants of varying sizes and many programs depend on that mix. Dr. Toomey said the department is pursuing an agency bill to ease a personnel transfer issue that has impeded career advancement between county and state public‑health positions.
The committee did not take any formal votes during the presentation. Members thanked the department and moved to questions on funding details, program roll‑out and requests for follow‑up data; Dr. Toomey offered the committee written answers to prior questions and invited members to visit laboratory facilities.
The committee recessed for lunch after subsequent agency presentations; the hearings will continue after the break.
