Office of the Secretary

DHH Secretary Highlights Federal-State Health Priorities for Louisiana Congressional Delegation

DHH Secretary Highlights Federal-State Health Priorities for Louisiana Congressional Delegation

NOTE: The Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (Charity Hospital) is not referenced in this letter because it is being addressed by the Louisiana Recovery Authority. Click Here for Letter.

BATON ROUGE, La. - The Department of Health and Hospitals issued a response today to the Public Affairs Research Councils brief on Louisiana Health First, a broad effort to overhaul the states health care system for the poor and uninsured.

In a week that Louisiana was ranked by several studies as having the lowest-performing health care system in the nation, including citations as having the highest number of avoidable hospitalizations, over-utilized emergency departments and among the highest rates of death in the nation and with among the highest costs, several Louisiana-based and national health care experts are supporting Louisiana Health First, a broad effort to overhaul the state’s health care system for the poor and uninsured.

The Department of Health and Hospitals awarded 14 grants of up to $75,000 to health care providers in rural and medically underserved areas in the state for community health care service expansion projects.

Governor Bobby Jindal and DHH Secretary Alan Levine today announced details on “Louisiana Health First,” an initiative to improve the health of the people in our state and create a financially sustainable system of quality health care.

BATON ROUGE - Governor Bobby Jindal and DHH Secretary Alan Levine today announced details on “Louisiana Health First,” an initiative to improve the health of the people in our state and create a financially sustainable system of quality health care. The initiative focuses on expanding health insurance coverage for our working poor and offering Medicaid consumers choices on insurance coverage rather than languishing in a government-imposed one-size-fits-all system. This initiative also works to reduce fraud and system abuse, ensure that providers are more involved in patient care, make the new charity hospital a competitive academic institution in New Orleans, reward providers for better health outcomes, and increase transparency in the Medicaid system by making performance measures available on the Internet.

The Department of Health and Hospitals today proposed regulations for implementation of a new option for treatment of children with intensive special health care needs - Pediatric Day Health Care Facilities. Pediatric Day Health Care Facilities provide parents and caregivers with children under the age of 21 an option for intensive medical services and supervision while parents work.

Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) Secretary Alan Levine today announced the appointment of a committee to study the development and implementation of a civil commitment program for sexually violent predators. The committee consists of representatives from the mental health, legal and law enforcement communities that will evaluate best practices for a statewide program of identification, control, monitoring and treatment of sexually violent predators and child sexual predators.