T’bonne COA hosts senior Health Fair
June 25, 2013Data: Louisiana public defenders running deficits
June 25, 2013
The operation of Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center, a public hospital, by the private Ochsner Health System – with help from Terrebonne General Medical Center – became a reality Monday.
This new chapter in the hospital’s history was announced by the son of its namesake, state Sen. Norby Chabert, at a news conference held about six months after word that a series of complex contracts and operating agreements would rescue the hospital.
As part of Louisiana’s long-standing charity hospital system, the 90-bed LJCMC, which opened its doors in 1978, has been a first line of health care for the indigent and uninsured in Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Mary parishes.
The number of beds is nearly half what the hospital had last year, which was 160.
Profound financial cuts to Louisiana’s health care framework threatened to shut it down, leaving many people with reduced health care options and threatening to overload other hospitals, especially TGMC.
Norby Chabert was credited Monday with taking a leadership role in smoothing out negotiations for the rescue, which got financial boosts from Terrebonne and Lafourche parish presidents Michel Claudet and Charlotte Randolph.
“When no one else was looking after us, we looked out for ourselves,” Chabert said during the announcement that the new management plan had kicked off, acting at times as a master of ceremonies and introducing public officials and health care provider executives involved with the deal.
“Terrebonne General is a wonderful facility, but Chabert serves a population whose volume we could not sustain,” said TGMC CEO Phyllis Peoples, explaining the importance of preserving Chabert for the benefit of her hospital’s operations.
TGMC is publicly owned through Terrebonne Parish Hospital Service District No. 1 and has been self-sustaining during its existence under that aegis; commissioners of the Hospital District have not needed to raise taxes in order to support and sustain its activities.
“A lot of work by a lot of people was done to make this day possible. I am proud that Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government played a role,”
Claudet said, noting the partnership’s cementing marks “a new day” for the medical facility.
“At the end of the day we can all stand proud that through our efforts we were able to maintain accessible and affordable health care in our region,” he said. “We were able to continue to provide a place for the next wave of doctors to receive training, and most importantly we were able to preserve hundreds of quality jobs for residents of our region.”
Ochsner executives said patients should see a seamless transition. Several high profile changes that they will likely not notice are already in the works, however.
LJCMC Administrator Rhonda Green is leaving her post after six years to take a job with the LSU Health System, which formerly operated Chabert.
The former COO of Ochsner St. Anne General Hospital in Raceland, Ritchie Dupre, will take over the reins at Chabert.
A Nicholls State University and South Terrebonne High School graduate, Dupre has also worked at TGMC.
“I’m very excited to see all these entities that we have working together,” he said.
The marriage with Ochsner brings Chabert into an organization billed as southeast Louisiana’s largest non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system.
The addition of Chabert brings the number of hospitals in the Ochsner system to nine. Ochsner also operates 38 health centers.
Systemwide, prior to the Chabert agreements, Ochsner employed more than 13,000 people with more than 850 physicians in more than 90 medical specialties and subspecialties. The Ochsner system conducts more than 300 clinical research trials every year.
Michael Hulefield, Ochsner COO, said Monday that no further layoffs would occur at Chabert, which was devastated last year by staff reductions.
He echoed prior statements by the outgoing Greene that Chabert had already been cut to the very bone and that no more cuts could possibly be made.
The partnership between Chabert and TGMC does not mean a sharing of facilities. Rather, it is the result of a lease agreement between Hospital Service District No. 1 with Ochsner.
Chabert patients in need of cardiac catheterization, for example, have always gone to a state-run hospital in New Orleans for that procedure, after being placed on a list. Hulefield said systems like that are not likely to change.
Louisiana State Sen. Norby Chabert talks to those in attendance at Monday’s news conference announcing Oshsner and Terrebonne General’s takeover of the public hospital. The move saves the hospital from additional job losses.
