Outpatient Woman's Clinic Agreement Reached; Health Care Services Preserved

BATON ROUGE - On Monday, April 15, the LSU Women's OB/GYN Clinic will reopen for scheduled appointments under the operation of Woman's Hospital. The re-opening comes as a result of a public-private partnership agreement reached between DHH, LSU and Woman's Hospital on Wednesday, April 10. LSU has operated the clinic in the Physician Office Building on the new Woman's campus since September 2012; and this location will not change. The agreement will support graduate medical education for LSU residency programs and improve patient access to quality health care services.

DHH Interim Secretary Kathy Kliebert said, "This agreement allows uninsured women and women on Medicaid continued access to critical OB/GYN services when Earl K. Long closes its doors. Woman's Hospital's extensive experience will best meet the needs of women in our region, and we are proud to partner with them to ensure women have access to quality health care services."

Woman's Hospital President and CEO Teri Fontenot said, "This is a unique opportunity to fulfill our mission of improving the health of women and infants. To ensure continued quality care, we will be working in the coming days to finalize operations and service plans. Patients of the LSU Clinic with urgent medical needs will receive care, and they will continue to see their same LSU physicians." Patients who need to schedule or reschedule routine appointments are asked to call 225-215-7960 beginning Monday, April 15.

LSU System Executive Vice President for Health Care and Medical Education Redesign Dr. Frank Opelka said, "This agreement will preserve critical graduate medical education for LSU residency programs and improve patient access to quality obstetrics and gynecology services."

LSU has been working to accelerate a system redesign through public-private partnerships over the past several months due to Congress's sudden action in July that reduced Louisiana's Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate to the lowest it has been in more than 25 years. The FMAP reduction eliminated $126.9 million in State General Funds from the LSU Health System's budget, which amounts to a total reduction of $329.2 million when federal funds that would have been used for match are considered. This funding loss has prompted immediate and significant reform of the State's health care programs.

LSU officials in October announced a plan for bringing their budget to balance with these unexpected FMAP reductions that keeps all hospitals operational and maintains critical services, including the medical home-model clinics that provide much of the care to recipients in the public hospital system today. The final, and most instrumental, part of this plan involved establishing public-private partnerships across the state, which will transform the delivery of health care services in Louisiana at the most efficient value for tax payers.

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