Modern Healthcare is providing continuing coverage of how the active 2008 hurricane season is affecting healthcare delivery in the Gulf Coast states. We're also presenting stories on ongoing efforts in the area to recover from the 2005 powerhouse storms Katrina and Rita. In addition to the latest stories from the pages of Modern Healthcare--including our special coverage of the one-year anniversary of Katrina--read one hospital CEO's discussion of the challenges his organization continued to face more than a year after the hurricane hit. Several other executives share their firsthand stories, published shortly after Katrina struck.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed legislation to compensate state hospitals more than $212 million for hurricane-related losses in the past few years and uncompensated-care costs.
The city of New Orleans has put up $2 million in earnest money toward the purchase and eventual reopening of a hospital on the city’s east side, which has been without its own acute-care facility since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Shriners Hospitals for Children, Tampa, Fla., has proposed closing six hospitals to balance the 22-hospital system’s budget after the weak economy wiped out $3 billion from its endowment, the system’s president and CEO said.
An attorney review board in Louisiana has recommended the state pay more than $450,000 in legal fees for Anna Pou, the physician who was accused but never formally charged with killing patients at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast nearly four years ago.
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston said that as of March 10, it has re-hired 415 employees after the system laid off about 2,450 of its workers a few months ago.
A doctor accused but never formally charged with giving four patients lethal doses of drugs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is asking the state to pay her legal fees.
The Shriners Hospitals for Children system, Tampa, Fla., has suspended reconstruction on its Galveston hospital, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Ike last September.
The University of Texas system will lay off about 3,800 employees at its University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, according to a statement from the system.
Despite the damage Hurricanes Gustav and Ike caused two months ago, the storms resulted in an unexpected gain for Louisiana, as they accounted for nearly half of a current $100 million surplus in the state’s Medicaid program.
More than 1,000 students returned to classes at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston on Oct. 20, five weeks after Hurricane Ike caused most to flee the Gulf Coast island. Now the question remains if the UTMB’s entire labor force will return—and, if so, when that will be.
Louisiana inappropriately received nearly $20 million from federal funding directed at uncompensated care provided to Hurricane Katrina evacuees, HHS’ inspector general’s office estimated in an audit report posted Oct. 24.
West Jefferson Medical Center, Marrero, La., has agreed to pay $3.3 million to the federal government and the state of Louisiana to resolve allegations that the 307-bed public hospital collected Medicaid reimbursement as a Level 1 pediatric intensive-care provider but didn’t qualify for the designation, the Justice Department announced.
The healthcare industry’s response to Hurricane Ike last week was helped by lessons learned about collaboration and communication in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita three years ago.
Months before two hurricanes pounded the Gulf Coast and their remnants brought torrential rains to many parts of the heartland, a small Indiana hospital knew a thing or two about how to come back from a devastating flood.
Up until June 7, Columbus (Ind.) Regional Hospital’s leaders were about to build a new emergency room and patient tower, and then heavy rains overwhelmed the path of the trickle called Haw Creek that runs through the campus. Then it was time to rebuild the old building rather than build a new one.
Lack of power, fuel and water are the most serious concerns facing Texas hospitals hit by Hurricane Ike over the weekend, according to the Texas Hospital Association in Austin.
More than 40 hospitals along the Texas Gulf Coast evacuated thousands of patients this week in preparation for Hurricane Ike, a sprawling Category 2 hurricane expected to increase in strength before making landfall near Galveston.
Hurricane Gustav offered the Gulf Coast healthcare industry what turned out to be a real-life drill to test newly improved disaster-relief tools, yet some providers warn that more federal capital is needed to boost a still-ailing healthcare system in Louisiana and other states.
Three Louisiana hospitals have been closed and nine others have limited capacity or services as a result of Hurricane Gustav, the Louisiana Hospital Association reported.
In declaring a public-health emergency in states affected by Hurricane Gustav, HHS is waiving certain program requirements for providers to ensure that beneficiaries in public-health programs continue to receive healthcare items and services. The declaration was issued Aug. 31 and applies to individuals enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
NEW ORLEANS--Checkpoints popped up around New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav to keep the city empty of residents so work could get under way to restore power and other critical services knocked out by the storm. Gov. Bobby Jindal said officials were focused on taking care of the roughly 1,000 critical needs medical patients evacuated from hospitals and nursing homes.
Despite the unprecedented move to suspend all but the bare minimum activity at the Rebublican National Convention, a handful of scheduled healthcare events throughout the Minneapolis/St. Paul area are expected to go on, but with some last minute changes.
In a blow to Louisiana healthcare providers, the Louisiana Supreme Court said a failure to have adequate evacuation plans after Hurricane Katrina does not qualify as medical malpractice, which could result in providers paying more for wrongful death claims.
Louisiana will soon have a new official to oversee its healthcare system. Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco appointed Roxane Townsend as secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Health and Hospitals, effective Sept. 15.
With the approaching late-summer anniversaries of two of the worst disasters in U.S. history—Hurricane Katrina and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks—the American healthcare system’s readiness for public emergencies continues to be a work in progress.
A grand jury’s decision not to indict cancer surgeon Anna Pou was claimed as a victory by physicians, but still serves as a reminder to hospitals about the potentially fatal consequences when facilities are unprepared for a major disaster.
Last week’s decision by a Louisiana district attorney to not pursue charges against two nurses accused of helping to kill four hospital patients after Hurricane Katrina isn’t necessarily bad news for Anna Pou, the physician also implicated in the case.
Plans are moving forward to build a new Louisiana State University’s Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans. The Louisiana Recovery Authority authorized a plan last month to allocate $300 million in federal funding for the center, but requested more information about how the hospit
University Hospital, New Orleans, reopened with 85 beds and 14 operating rooms after having been shuttered since Hurricane Katrina hit in fall 2005. The hospital previously operated with about 200 beds. Charity Hospital, its partner facility, which staffed more than 300 beds, is not scheduled to reopen. A spokeswoman for the hospitals’ parent organization, the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, said University expects to reach its goal of staffing 150 beds in “fairly short order.”
With the recent events surrounding Hurricane Katrina and its effect on New Orleans, the situation here at the Ochsner Clinic Foundation was somewhat different from others in the city due to our location in Jefferson Parish. I would estimate that Ochsner's positive outcome after the storm was due 50% to our location on the "lip of the bowl" of the city, and another 50% to very solid strategic planning and preparation that allowed us to be flexible and adapt to the changing situations during and after the storm.
At first, it didn't seem as though it was going to be that serious. I was in the medical office building next to Memorial Medical Center when the hurricane hit at 4:30 in the morning. The whole building started shaking violently in the wind. The windows in the walkways that connect the medical office building to the hospital began popping out. Glass was flying everywhere.
On Monday, Aug. 22, I began my first day as president and chief executive officer of Touro Infirmary. I was looking forward to the normal process of meeting employees, getting to know the medical staff and the management team, and just generally settling in. This was not to be. By Aug. 26, it was clear that a hurricane of historic proportions was coming our way.
After the storm swept through, our first inspections Aug. 29 revealed little damage. We had a few broken windows and some roof damage, but the building held up well. In fact, if you were in the inner core of the hospital, you only vaguely heard Katrina.
When I spoke with my longtime friend Steve Worley, chief executive officer of Children's Hospital of New Orleans, on Tuesday, Aug. 30, with an offer of help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, I didn't anticipate the extent of activity that was to come. Just over 24 hours later, we transported 24 pediatric patients and their family members from New Orleans to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
With the arrival of Hurricane Katrina in southeast Louisiana, the mission of the Louisiana Hospital Association took a 180-degree turn from its normal advocacy role to running an emergency operations center.
As Hurricane Katrina brewed in the Gulf of Mexico during the final days of August, more than a million people fled the New Orleans area. Hundreds of thousands found shelter in my community of Baton Rouge, La., just 50 miles northwest of the devastated Crescent City. In the days after Katrina's landfall, Baton Rouge was overwhelmed as tens of thousands more people were evacuated, including critically ill patients in desperate need of medical care. In the blink of an eye, everything changed for Baton Rouge, including the long-term future of our healthcare system.
One hospital struggles with more indigent care, staffing shortages
The year 2006 will be one of tremendous change for the healthcare community in New Orleans as we put the cataclysmic events of the past year behind us and rebuild our healthcare delivery system. These changes will continue for at least a decade. Pre-Katrina, there were 14 hospitals in New Orleans, serving a population of 900,000. Today, there are just eight hospitals serving 550,000 residents in our region.
HCA said it will become the first hospital provider to resume services in downtown New Orleans on Feb. 14, nearly six months after Hurricane Katrina hit, even though the company acknowledges that the prospects for the city's rebound are far from clear.
Nashville-based HCA said it plans to start with limited services and 63 staffed beds at Tulane University Hospital and Clinic and hopes to resume full operations in June. Touro Infirmary, located southwest of downtown, was the first hospital to reopen in the wake of the hurricane and the flooding it triggered.
Seven months after Hurricane Katrina, government auditors report that the number of hospital beds in New Orleans has dropped by about 80%, and the region's already-troubled healthcare system continues to look bleak.
A status report from the Government Accountability Office last week said the number of staffed beds in New Orleans in February was 1,984, compared with 4,083 before the storm hit. "Residents are expected to return to the area slowly, and their return will be affected by the availability of housing and other services," the report said.
Physicians in the Gulf Coast region may want to think twice before taking up a rare offer from HHS to get reimbursed for treating uninsured patients after Hurricane Katrina.
Prior to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, physicians had never been allowed to receive compensation for care of the uninsured, so on paper the deal looks like welcome relief, said Dave Tarver, executive vice president for the Louisiana State Medical Society.
The catch is that the potentially burdensome provisions of a new claims process could discourage some physicians from filing.
As the nation observes the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week, healthcare leaders report mixed progress in coping with the devastation to the Gulf Coast.
The industry has worked since days after the storm made landfall to restore the region's healthcare infrastructure (Aug. 21, p. 6), but recent news has ranged from discouraging reports from physicians to new funding opportunities and success stories for mitigating future major catastrophes.
"I had three children, and I could only hold onto to two."
That statement from a Katrina survivor is typical of the images storm victims have described to workers at Memorial Behavioral Health in Gulfport, Miss., according to Michael Zieman, the facility's administrator. Parents and spouses have shared their anguish and relived the horrible memories of holding onto their loved ones, only to have the current pull them apart.
"We're dealing with grief and loss issues" and post-traumatic stress disorder, Zieman said.
Perhaps the brightest spot in Louisiana's struggling healthcare infrastructure one year after Hurricane Katrina is the factor that could have the greatest influence on the system's future: the region's medical school and clinical training programs.
Though hit hard and disrupted by the hurricane and subsequent flooding last August, Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans and Tulane University School of Medicine's programs both had strong numbers of applicants for the coming school year.
As the confusion that followed Hurricane Katrina dissipated, two things quickly became clear: Electronic medical records have a better chance of surviving a hurricane and flooding than paper records, and the Veteran Affairs Department's EMR system -- known as VistA -- came through the disaster with flying colors.
"The point to remember is that our VistA system never failed," said Robert Lynch, network director of the South Central VA Health Care Network. "We didn't lose anything and made information accessible as patients were transported across the country. ...
In the three months following Hurricane Katrina last year, East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, La., became employee Bridgette Williams' temporary home. Williams, part of the environmental services staff, volunteered for the hospital's disaster team, where she worked with other employees to maintain the hospital's nine floors. Sleeping on a mattress in an office during the day and working at night, Williams cleaned patient rooms, removed trash, mopped floors and maintained the restrooms.
In the year since Hurricane Katrina hit the nation's Gulf Coast, providing healthcare to residents in one area just outside of New Orleans has been similar to a stroke patient's recovery, according to Michael Pisciotta, administrator at St. Bernard Health Center in Chalmette, La. ``Patients have a stroke and can't walk,'' Pisciotta said, describing the region immediately after the storm. "By December, we could stand. By March, we were using the parallel bars. Today, we're up and walking.''
Modern Healthcare is providing continuing coverage of how the active 2008 hurricane season is affecting healthcare delivery in the Gulf Coast states. We're also presenting stories on ongoing efforts in the area to recover from the 2005 powerhouse storms Katrina and Rita. In addition to the latest stories from the pages of Modern Healthcare--including our special coverage of the one-year anniversary of Katrina--read one hospital CEO's discussion of the challenges his organization continued to face more than a year after the hurricane hit. Several other executives share their firsthand stories, published shortly after Katrina struck.
