Georgia hospital plans tech upgrades with rural health funding

Bainbridge, Ga.-based Memorial Hospital and Manor hopes to leverage the $50 billion federal Rural Health Transformation Program to make technology improvements, the Post-Searchlight reported.

The organization, which includes an 80-bed hospital and long-term and personal care facilities, is eligible for the $219 million that Georgia received as part of the initiative. The health system is targeting robotic and cybersecurity updates.

“Robotics is super expensive, and it’s in very limited places throughout the southeast part of Georgia,” Memorial Hospital and Manor CEO LaDon Toole told the news outlet. “If we were able to get robotics, that’d be wonderful, but it’s a very big price tag — over $2 million to have robotics in this hospital. But you’re not gonna find a surgeon in the future if you don’t invest in technology because they’ll go to other places.” 

The hospital was hit with a ransomware attack in 2024, after which it partnered with the Georgia Cyber Innovation and Training Center on a pilot program to identify its cybersecurity weaknesses, according to the Jan. 22 story. But the organization could stand to add more servers and further boost its cyber defenses.

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