Hospitals also

helped sustain 264,959 full-time jobs in Georgia during the same year.

The report,

which was based on a study prepared by the Economic Forecasting Center

at Georgia State University, revealed that Georgia hospitals had direct

expenditures of more than $8.7 billion in 1999 an increase from $8.3 billion

in 1998. When combined with an economic multiplier developed by the United

States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis, the total

economic impact of those expenditures was $26.3 billion.

This output

multiplier considers the "ripple" effect of direct hospital

expenditures on other sectors of the economy, such as medical supplies,

durable medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. Economic multipliers are

used to model the resulting impact of a change in autonomous spending

in one industry on the "circular flow" of spending within an

economy as a whole.

"Hospitals'

missions are to improve the health and well-being of communities, but

few realize that in many areas throughout Georgia, hospitals are also

the foundation of the economic health of a community," said GHA President

Joseph A. Parker.

The report

also measures hospitals' direct economic contribution to Georgia's working

families. Using a "household earnings multiplier," the study

determines that hospitals generate more than $6.6 billion in household

earnings in the state. The household earning multiplier measures the increased

economic contributions from households employed directly or indirectly

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