They give, they take away and then they give again. LSU broke ground on an emergency room in north Baton Rouge in January, meant to lessen the blow dealt to the area by the two-year gap of nearby emergency services after the closure of Baton Rouge General’s Mid City emergency room in 2015 and the Earl K. Long Medical Center before that in 2013. With time of the
essence, ambulances have since been transporting serious cases from the underserved area all the way to full-service hospital complexes in south Baton Rouge.
Below is a timeline detailing how health care services have shifted, shuffled, disappeared and returned in the poorest area of the city as a result of privatization, partnerships and state budget woes.
Jan. 29, 2010
LSU Board of Supervisors approves a partnership with Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center to make that facility the new home of LSU’s medical training and hospital services. OLOL would be fully reimbursed for handling an increased number of uninsured and Medicaid patients as part of the deal. The decision solidifies LSU’s plans to close its aging public hospital, the Earl K. Long Medical Center in north Baton Rouge, rather than spend the estimated $480 million to replace it. The partnership aligns with Gov. Bobby Jindal’s efforts to begin privatizing public health services across the state.
March 19, 2010
The joint House and Senate budget committee votes to approve the partnership. In testimony, officials with Baton Rouge General argue ambulances would bring patients in north Baton Rouge to the closest medical facility with an emergency room, not OLOL. Thus, BRG’s Mid City campus would end up handling the bulk of emergency patients without receiving the same reimbursements as OLOL. As a result, they’d likely lose money and have to cut services.
Feb. 22, 2013
The Jindal administration unveils a new state budget. To fill a $1 billion-plus budget hole, it relies heavily on the assumed savings from privatizing nearly all of the state’s public hospitals.
April 14, 2013
Earl K. Long shuts its doors more than six months ahead of the original planned date, with 780 employees losing their jobs at the facility and its outpatient clinics.
April 15, 2013
A 24-hour urgent care clinic in the LSU Health North Baton Rouge complex opens just down the street from the Earl K. Long site, attempting to alleviate the stress from its closure. The 12-bed clinic, operated by OLOL, is meant for patients with minor conditions and injuries. More serious emergencies are routed to the nearest hospital emergency room.
Nov. 8, 2013
After President Obama gives an address in New Orleans encouraging the state to expand Medicaid coverage—which would help lessen the blow for medical facilities that handle uninsured and Medicaid patients—Gov. Jindal issues a statement saying, “We will not allow President Obama to bully Louisiana into accepting an expansion of Obamacare.”
Aug. 27, 2014
BRG officials tell staffers the Mid City emergency room will close soon, only to change course later that day when the Jindal administration announces it has found $7.2 million in state dollars to keep it operating. At the time, BRG officials say they were hemorrhaging $1 million a month because of the added stress on the emergency room. Some predict the cash infusion will only delay an impending closure.
Dec. 15, 2014
Citing the success of the north Baton Rouge urgent care clinic, LSU and OLOL open another—this one with limited hours—at the LSU Health Mid City complex on Foster Drive. Officials say such urgent care clinics meet the needs of patients with minor conditions who are causing delays at emergency rooms.
March 31, 2015
BRG’s Mid City emergency room officially closes, citing increased losses of $2 million each month. This leaves four remaining emergency rooms in the Baton Rouge area: BRG on Bluebonnet Boulevard, OLOL on Essen Lane, Ochsner Medical Center on O’Neal Lane and Lane Regional Medical Center in Zachary.
Jan. 14, 2016
Two days into his term, Gov. John Bel Edwards issues an executive order to expand Medicaid in the state. Later, he tells a health care summit he wants to bring an emergency room back to north Baton Rouge with the help of Medicaid expansion.
Sept. 21, 2016
The state announces that through a renegotiated contract with OLOL, the LSU Health North Baton Rouge complex will add an emergency room to its facilities. The deal comes after Champion Medical Center, a private facility on Harding Boulevard, sought unsuccessfully to get the state’s backing for its own emergency room in north Baton Rouge.
Jan. 31, 2017
Officials break ground on the standalone emergency room at LSU Health North Baton Rouge. It will include eight treatment rooms and be able to help a variety of trauma patients and serious conditions, though patients will be transferred to OLOL on Essen Lane for long-term care if needed. The state chalked up around $5.5 million for the expansion, which is scheduled to open in October.
This article was originally published in the April 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.
