New Orleans Hospitals Rebuilding, But Face Financial, Staffing Problems

Two years after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the "overall tone" of local hospitals that are renovating and rebuilding "seems to be one of cautious optimism," the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

According to the Times-Picayune, health care providers throughout the city "are feeling the pinch" of a shortage of physicians and other health care professionals, "but it hasn't stopped them from expanding or refocusing their services to meet the needs of a shifting population." Jack Finn of the Metropolitan Hospital Council said the shortage of nurses and doctors, in particular psychiatrists, is "the biggest restraint" in rebuilding New Orleans' health care system. He added that a proposed teaching hospital in the area could help alleviate the shortage.

In addition, John Metessino, president and CEO of the Louisiana Hospital Association, said hospitals are "really struggling" financially. "They've burned through a lot of their cash reserves, and they can't keep doing that." Finn estimated that six hospitals in the city have lost a combined $140 million from treating the uninsured and Medicare beneficiaries. The hospital council has been lobbying the state and federal governments to provide more funds for treating those patients.

Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) provided $80 million to $90 million to hospitals in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes to help offset the costs of treating the uninsured, but Finn called inadequate reimbursements for the uninsured and Medicare beneficiaries "the top two drains on our financial resources" (Bourbon, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/11).

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