October 25, 2010 DHH Secretary Greenstein Presents ‘Road Map for a Healthier Louisiana’Agency’s Business Plan Focuses on Improving Health, Ensuring Value

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Oct 25, 2010 - BATON ROUGE— Department of Health Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein today presented his business plan for the agency focusing on core priorities of protecting and promoting the health of Louisianians while increasing the value of resources invested in those imperatives.

To download the full report, click here.

“For the past six weeks, I have traveled to every corner of the state. Through those travels, I have met many fine people who are dedicated to improving the health and wellness of Louisiana citizens, and I have learned about the strengths and weaknesses in our system,” Secretary Greenstein said. “This plan takes those lessons and puts them into action by focusing our priorities where they need to be – on building a healthier Louisiana.”

Greenstein added: “For too long, we have sat on the bottom of ranking after ranking when it comes to the health of our citizenry. Louisianians deserve better. And we can do better with a laser focus on our core imperatives and ensuring our taxpayers get the value they expect from their investments.”

The business plan provides guidance in every area of the agency with each office focusing on three global priorities:

• Protecting and promoting the health of all Louisianians. The health and well-being of our state is our first priority, and we are committed to improving the health status of every Louisiana resident.
• Good stewardship of the tax dollars entrusted to us. We are committed to cutting unnecessary costs, eliminating duplication and prioritizing our resources toward programs and policies that are beneficial to the health of our residents and cost-effective for them.
• Reforming our health care system to better serve the needs of Louisiana residents in the most effective ways possible.

The plan was developed with four overarching challenges in mind: the poor health status of Louisiana residents, inefficiencies in the traditional health care delivery and payment systems, implications of the new health care law and the difficult current national and state economic outlook.

The statistics are alarming, Greenstein noted. Louisiana ranks 49th in infant mortality and the number of low birth-weight babies born each year. The state is also 49th in cancer deaths and 47th in preventable hospitalizations.

“It’s no wonder we rank 23rd in per-capita spending for hospitals,” Greenstein said. “That’s a misguided investment when we know how to do a better job on the front end through preventive care, enhanced coordination and disease management that doesn’t only save money, but more importantly, improves quality of life.”

The plan covers every office and program within the department focusing on the three guiding principles.
The initiatives include:

• Coordinated Care Networks (CCNs): Improving health outcomes and controlling health care costs (Louisiana Medicaid)
• Coordinated System of Care for the Delivery of Behavioral Health Services (Office of Behavioral Health)
• Improving Public Health Outcomes through Coordinated Care (Office of Public Health)
• Louisiana Birth Outcomes Project (OPH)
• Creating an Innovative, High-Value Medicaid Technology Infrastructure for Consumers and Health Care Providers (Office of the Secretary)
• Harnessing the Power of Information Technology to improve health and health care (OS)
• Improving Performance on Key Public Health Imperatives (OPH)
• Increasing our Capacity to Prevent and Fight Fraud and Abuse (Medicaid)
• Greater New Orleans Community Health Connection (Louisiana Medicaid)
• Strengthening the Community-based Long Term Care Infrastructure (Office of Aging and Adult Services
• Right-balancing Institutional and Community-based Long Term Care (OAAS)
• Meeting the Needs of More Citizens with Developmental Disabilities in a High-Quality, Cost-Effective Manner (Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities)
• Community Capacity Building for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities (OCDD)
• Systems Rebalancing – Promoting Sustainable, Community-Based Services (OCDD)
• Right-balancing Institutional and Community Home Care (OBH)

“For too long we have been on this predictable path to poor health outcomes and high health care costs. It’s a path that we follow, guided by systems that are inefficient at best, and broken, at worst,” Greenstein said. “Without change, it will only worsen. Our current systems of health care delivery and financing are not sustainable into the foreseeable future. When the governor asked me to come here, he charged me with bringing a new level of innovation and a new approach to executing health improvement plans. This plan provides the governor, legislators and taxpayers another way to monitor our progress and hold me accountable. It also will serve as our guide to achieving those goals and a road map for building a healthier Louisiana.”

To download the full report, click here.

The Louisiana Department of Health strives to protect and promote health statewide and to ensure access to medical, preventive and rehabilitative services for all state citizens. To learn more about LDH, visit http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov. For up-to-date health information, news and emergency updates, follow DHH’s blog at www.myhealthla.org>, Twitter at http://twitter.com/La_Health_Dept and search for the Louisiana Department of Health on Facebook.

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