SLMA Continues to Expand

A SUCCESSFUL MOVE TO PRIVATE SECTOR HELPS THE GROUP TO CONTINUE TO GROW

Although it recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, South Louisiana Medical Associates (SLMA) shows no signs of slowing down—expanding its reach while continuing its commitment to excellence and serving the community.

SLMA started in 1978 as a teaching affiliate of Ochsner Medical Center.

“When Leonard Chabert was the representative in the late ‘70s and secured the funding to build Chabert Medical Center, he had to acquire physician staffing and asked Ochsner leadership back then to help out with the physician staffing,” said Dr. Michael Garcia, CEO and President of SLMA. “So they created this group called South Louisiana Medical Associates. The hospital’s name at that time was South Louisiana Medical Center—SLMC—and we were SLMA; so you can see the synergy there. That’s how the group came into being a standalone multispecialty group practice.”

While the organization has stayed with its roots of educating aspiring doctors though its well-established residency program, it also has partnered with various doctors, independent medical providers and other organizations to deliver the highest quality of affordable healthcare services. They have several locations in Houma and Morgan City and their outreach even expands to the Cut Off/Galliano area—helping out in their emergency room. Their impressive staff of physicians and other health care specialists allow SLMA to cover 28 specialties—meeting the needs of all the communities they reach. This is due to their people-first mentality.

“People are treated as real people…not as a number or anything less,” Dr. Garcia said on why people in the community keep going to SLMA’s for their care. “Everybody matters. Everybody counts. Whatever you might be that you do in the Bayou Region, we work around whatever your work is so that we can help you get better…We don’t leave anybody behind.”

The business’s tremendous growth and success over the past 40 years hasn’t been met without certain challenges. In fact, it was the company’s adapting to adversity that caused it to change its business plan and open its own clinics.

“About four years ago, after the public-private partnership became into effect at Chabert, we found that we were losing too many physicians as a result of that partnership and had to retool and rethink how we did work.” Dr. Garcia explained. “Prior to about four years ago, the group only worked Chabert—literally on campus and nowhere else.”

It was when SLMA began to lose many physicians after that partnership that they felt they had no choice but to expand and move into the private sector. That expansion has paid off four years later for the company that today employs over 100 medical providers.

Along with is successful move into the private sector, SLMA has noted several other accomplishments in its rich history. For many years, they worked with LSU to develop their robust and successful chronic disease management program. The program spread statewide and is still implemented today.

“What we learned and what we all know is that you keep someone healthy, they stay out of the hospital. So, we set out many years ago to develop and hardwire in what it takes to manage diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure and HIV,” Dr. Garcia said. “If we can manage your diabetes to help you to maintain control of your diabetes, maybe you won’t be needed to be admitted to a hospital for major correction or complications.”

After Katrina, the forward thinkers at SLMA saw the need to create their own internal medicine residency program after they witnessed the community’s need in the primary care area for South Louisiana. The program, that recently completed its 10th graduate class, ranks No.2 in the state for first-time board certification—seeing a 100 percent pass rate the last two years on internal medicine boards. Twenty-five of the 50 graduates of the program stayed to serve in Houma and its surrounding communities.

On top of putting people first with their business, the members of SLMA make sure to put the people of their communities first outside of work. Several of their healthcare providers and specialists volunteer their out in the community or support local charitable organizations.

“We find that the physicians or are tight group; everybody’s got everybody’s back. Everybody is pulling in the same direction,” Dr. Garcia expressed. “Not every day is a perfect day, of course, but we strive to find people with good character to work in this special group.” •

BY DREW MILLER