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As Northeast Georgia Health System (NGHS) celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, it has a new leader at the helm. Dr. Matt Hanley took over as president and CEO in 2025, replacing retiring CEO Carol Burrell. The nonprofit healthcare system, which includes five hospitals, is a major economic driver: A recent report by the Georgia Hospital Association found that NGHS generates more than $7.8 billion in local and state economic impact thanks to the more than 12,000 people it directly employs. “Those figures only reflect the economic impact of our hospitals, so the added impact of our other services like physician offices and long-term care facilities is even greater,” Hanley says. “It all comes together and ties back to how we’re growing the greater good in North Georgia and beyond.”
What is your vision for NGHS? Our first 75 years were defined by our organization’s perseverance and grit to care for more people than I think anyone ever imagined. When I look ahead to the next five to 10 years, the strong foundation of our mission, our core values, and connection to our community will remain the same. We will continue to build on that foundation to focus on three things: delivering excellent care, being the best healthcare organization to work for, and being the best-run health system in Georgia.
What unique challenges do you face leading a regional nonprofit system?
We face the same challenges as other health systems across the state and nation. The cost to provide care is in creasing, negotiations with payors can be contentious, and finding high-quality physicians and nurses amid national shortages is tough. Despite those challenges, NGHS is in a strong and enviable position thanks to our volunteer board of directors’ bold leadership and our teams bringing their best every day. We are in a region with a growing population and a thriving economy, and we have the surrounding community’s support. We have partnered with many organizations in our area—like the University of North Georgia, Brenau University, Lanier Technical College, and more—to build our own workforce pipelines.
What are some growth initiatives you’re focused on? NGHS has been through a decade of tremendous growth— starting with opening Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Braselton in 2015; stepping in to save hospitals in Barrow, Lumpkin, and Habersham counties; expanding our employed physician groups to meet the needs of the growing population; and opening a new tower at NGMC Gainesville [2025]. In 2026, we plan to integrate one of the largest physician groups in the state, Longstreet Clinic, into our health system. We also plan to complete the expansion of the NGMC Braselton campus, which will triple the size of that hospital’s emergency department, and open the Chuck and Diane Stephens Hospice House later in the year.
What is NGHS doing to attract and retain top talent? We created our Graduate Medical Education program, which matched with its first class of residents in 2018. The program is one of the largest in the state with more than 230 physician learners across seven residency tracks and fellowships in two specialties. The goal was to attract the best physicians to stay after residency or come back after fellowships. We’re proud that more than 30 of our 150-plus graduates have done just that over the past five years.
On the nursing and allied health professionals front, we’ve long partnered with our local universities and technical schools on training programs and are partnering with local middle and high schools to encourage healthcare careers early through work-based learning and other educational programs. A few years ago, we partnered with the University of North Georgia to develop an Accelerated Bachelor of Nursing program, and it was recently ranked fifth in the nation by RegisteredNursing.org.
Equally important to recruiting the best talent is investing in those who are already bringing their best to NGHS every day. We spend an equal or greater amount of time on retention efforts and growth opportunities, such as leadership development programs and tuition reimbursement. [Our] turnover rates are in the top decile nationally.
How is NGHS working to improve access to care in underserved areas? In the cases of our hospitals in Habersham, Barrow, and Lumpkin counties, each situation had its own unique nuances, but the bottom line is NGHS stepped in to save the local hospital for each of those communities. When our board and leadership team decided to purchase NGMC Barrow in 2016, bring on NGMC Lumpkin in 2019, and welcome NGMC Habersham in 2023, it was about doing the right things. Our philosophy has always been to support the community hospitals in our service area versus compete, but, if they falter, we feel it’s our responsibility as the safety net system for our region to help ensure access to care. Keeping those local hospitals open and continually reinvesting in them also helps prevent our hospitals in Gainesville and Braselton from being overwhelmed.
NGHS has found success in keeping these hospitals open and sustainable by focusing on providing the right care, at the right time, at the right place. Not every hospital needs to be a Level I Trauma Center, but they need good emergency rooms. They may not need to provide every kind of advanced surgery, but they need to be excellent at the common care that’s needed most in that community. We believe rural healthcare is vital to keeping Georgia strong, so we’re doing all we can to support it.
This article appears in the Winter 2026 issue of GaBiz.
