Modern Healthcare is providing ongoing coverage of how healthcare providers in the Gulf Coast states continue to recover following the active 2008 hurricane season. We're also publishing stories on the continuing 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.
By Jessica Zigmond July 02, 2009 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. ... FULL STORY
By Joe Carlson May 29, 2009 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. ... FULL STORY
By Melanie Evans April 01, 2009 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond March 18, 2009 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond March 16, 2009 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond February 18, 2009 Still struggling from the damage of Hurricane Gustav, River West Medical Center in Plaquemine, La., has laid off about 100 employees. ... FULL STORY
By the Associated Press February 11, 2009 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond January 21, 2009 The Shriners Hospitals for Children system, Tampa, Fla., has suspended reconstruction on its Galveston hospital, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Ike last September. ... FULL STORY
November 12, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond November 10, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond October 27, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
October 27, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
October 17, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond September 22, 2008 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.Comparisons to those 2005 storms were inevitable after Ike, the nation’s latest natural disaster, pounded Galveston, Texas, in the early morning hours of Sept. 13. The storm—a Category 2 hurricane—also affected Houston and the state’s “Golden Triangle” region of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, and many areas were still without power at deadline. ... FULL STORY
By Gregg Blesch September 22, 2008 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. Water filled the 235-bed hospital’s 12-foot basement, wiping out the... ... FULL STORY
September 15, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
September 12, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jennifer Lubell September 08, 2008 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.READ MORE: Healthcare Hurricane ... FULL STORY
September 04, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
September 02, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Associated Press September 02, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Matthew DoBias and Gregg Blesch September 01, 2008 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond September 10, 2007 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. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond September 03, 2007 When it comes to federal grant funding, good news travels fast—so fast that sometimes the recipient is the last to know. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond September 03, 2007 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.Townsend, 50, serves currently as the department’s deputy secretary and will succeed Fred Cerise, who has served as secretary since January 2004, when Blanco appointed him to the position.Cerise, 45, accepted the position of vice president for healthcare and medical education at the Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond August 20, 2007 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.Last week, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a new Web-based prescription response program highlighted the need for U.S. hospitals and other healthcare providers to improve their emergency-response planning efforts. ... FULL STORY
By Jessica Zigmond July 30, 2007 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. ... FULL STORY
By Shawn Rhea July 09, 2007 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. ... FULL STORY
June 04, 2009 (New Orleans) Times-PicayuneWith little debate, the House voted 94-2 for a proposal to block the acquisition of land for the proposed New Orleans teaching hospital until a key legislative budget panel approves a new financing plan. FULL STORY ... FULL STORY
June 02, 2009 (New Orleans) Times-PicayuneLouisiana State University System officials must craft a more detailed business plan for the proposed state medical complex slated to be built in New Orleans as a replacement of the old Charity Hospital, Gov. Bobby Jindal said. FULL STORY ... FULL STORY
By Galveston County (Texas) Daily News June 02, 2009 The University of Texas Medical Branch had never been more vulnerable than it was in January when Texas lawmakers convened their 81st legislative session. ... FULL STORY
May 19, 2009 (New Orleans) Times-Picayune The Interim LSU Public Hospital “lacks a broad vision and remains in a post-Katrina reactionary mode,” according to a report that also found numerous management inefficiencies that add up to $66 million a year. FULL STORY ... FULL STORY
By the Associated Press March 30, 2009 The need for moving medical records online in Mississippi became apparent after Hurricane Katrina. Now, the Gulf Coast is leading the state in electronic record management.The Mississippi Coastal Health Information Exchange, or MCHIE, will allow every doctor, hospital, therapist, pharmacist or other health professional who sees a patient to enter the information from the visit electronically."So many health records had been lost on the coast," said Chris Anderson, CEO of Singing River Health System, Pascagoula. ... FULL STORY
December 16, 2008 New Orleans Times-PicayuneIn yet another sign that local hospitals continue to keel from financial hardships imposed by Hurricane Katrina, Moody's Investors Services has downgraded the debt rating for Touro Infirmary for the second consecutive year. FULL STORY ... FULL STORY
By New York Times October 16, 2008 Mother Nature goes to extremes in the summer, spoiling the gift of good weather with hurricanes, heat waves, fires and floods. This year she started early. On May 2, Cyclone Nargis laid waste to large parts of Myanmar.Wealthy nations are much better protected from the so-called natural hazards, but by no means have they been spared this year. ... FULL STORY
By Houston Chronicle October 16, 2008 Read about the latest federal, state and local developments in the weeks since Hurricane Ike's landfall in the Houston area in mid-September. ... FULL STORY
By Associated Press September 15, 2008 HOUSTON—Jeannine Burks stood outside her Houston home and surveyed the damage from Hurricane Ike: Tree limbs, debris and standing water everywhere. She had no power, no phones, and had only just back got her water pressure.In other words, she got lucky."I have a roof over my house. I've got windows, and a cool front coming tomorrow," said Burks, who lives in the city's Sharpstown neighborhood. "Anytime you go through one of these with just broken trees and no power, you're doing good."Some in America's fourth-largest city fared worse, others better, but the consensus among residents... ... FULL STORY
