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Patients Aplenty in New Orleans' Hospitals

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 03:02 CST

By Esker, Fritz

Beds are usually full at functioning New Orleans-area hospitals but that doesn't mean they are making money. Administrators say new strategies are needed to bring in revenue.Because many area hospitals are still closed post-Hurricane Katrina, beds are full at open care centers despite a smaller population. At East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, for example all 444 beds are full. Dr. Mark Peters, EJGH CEO and president, said the hospital has been close to capacity for the past month. He said occupancy is usually between 80 percent and 85 percent this time of year. West Jefferson Medical Center, with 330 beds, has typically treated more than 300 patients a day the past month, according to Gary Muller, president and CEO.Ochsner Clinic's 300 non-pediatric beds contained 239 adult patients Dec. 1. At Kenner Regional Medical Center, which sustained serious wind-related damage from Katrina, only 60 beds are staffed, about half of pre-Katrina bed counts. Jack Khashou, director of business development at KRNC, estimates 53 patients a day fill those beds.Emergency room traffic has also increased. At West Jeff, Muller said the emergency room treated nearly 600 patients a day in the weeks following Katrina, but now the number is closer to 220 compared with the average for this time of year being about 180. Peters estimates EJGH's emergency room traffic has increased between 15 percent and 20 percent from averaging 124 patients daily pre- Katrina to 154 post-Katrina and more than 4,700 total in October.Paying for careUninsured patient care has increased since the Medical Center of Louisiana, the area's primary indigent care facility, has been closed since the storm. Before Katrina, Peters said about 4 percent of East Jeff's patients were uninsured and about 12 percent are uninsured post-Katrina. At West Jeff, uninsured patients accounted for 6 percent of the beds before Katrina. Muller estimates uninsured patients comprise 11 percent now.Dr. Joseph Guarisco, chairman of the Emergency Department at Ochsner, said 10 percent of patients were uninsured prior to Katrina. Numbers spiked to 25 percent after the storm and has gone down to about 18 percent now. Khashou said Kenner Regional's number of uninsured patients are definitely higher than normal although he had no details.High volumes of uninsured patients drain revenues yet the hospitals embrace their duty to tend those in need. We feel a responsibility to provide care for people who need it, especially with limited facilities in the city, said Peters. We take everybody, Muller said of WJMC. If they come into our emergency room, of course we'll take them. At Ochsner, Guarisco said his hospital is committed to the community.Hospitals strategies vary in trying to compensate for financial losses. According to Muller, West Jeff wants to become a teaching hospital. Before Katrina, the Medical Center of Louisiana was the city's primary teaching hospital where students from Tulane and Louisiana State University medical schools learned their craft. It's important for our community for medical education to continue, said Muller. If West Jeff becomes a teaching hospital, it will receive reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid.East Jeff hopes to uncompensated care dollars. According to Peters, each hospital pegs a dollar amount to the care it provides uninsured patients every year. Each hospital is supposed to be reimbursed by the government for these dollars, but Peters said the money usually falls short. We have never gotten our full amount, said Peters. He estimates his hospital receives about 20 percent of its uncompensated care dollars. Tightening beltsAll hospitals plan on becoming more fiscally efficient. Guarisco said Ochsner will make some adjustments ... maybe reducing travel for physicians and administrative expenses.At Kenner Regional, Khashou is optimistic about the future financially, especially after repair work is completed and the hospital returns to full capacity. We feel pretty positive about the future because our service area did not include the most devastated areas, Khashou said. Because of this and the westward shift in population after Katrina, Kenner Regional will not alter its financial strategy, he said.The outlook is optimistic at EJGH, Peters said. Due to a lot of good years in the past, we have significant financial resources allowing us to weather the storm, he said. We'll survive, said Guarisco at Ochsner. We're OK even now. As the city repopulates, things will get even better.Winter is typically the busiest season for hospitals as the weather changes and more people sicken, especially the elderly. If there is a high flu season ... there may not be enough beds, said Peters.

(Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires)

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness

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