Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 48 - PUBLIC HEALTH-GENERAL › Part I - General Administration › Subpart 5 - Health Planning › Chapter 111 - Area Level Planning › Section I-11103 - Acute Care

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. New
				  Orleans/Bayou-River Health System Area
1.
				  There are 34 general (non-federal) hospital facilities located in the New
				  Orleans/Bayou-River area. Current patient bed to population ratio is 5.6/1,000
				  general population. The ratio in planning district I (New Orleans) is
				  6.26/1,000, while in planning district III (Bayou-River) is 2.90/ 1,000.
				  Although there is a relatively large use of hospital beds in the New Orleans
				  district by persons from outside the service area, only 5 of the 26 facilities
				  in the district had occupancy rates during 1980 which reached 80 percent. No
				  facility in the Bayou-River district reached 80 percent occupancy; 6 of the 9
				  facilities in that district had occupancy rates below 60 percent during 1980.
				  Most of the facilities in the Bayou-River area are small hospitals which
				  provide acute care accessibility to rural residents and cannot reasonably be
				  expected to achieve 80 percent occupancy.
2. Three new general hospital facilities have
				  been approved for construction in HSA I and 714 additional beds have been
				  approved for existing facilities.
3. Planning objectives for acute care in HSA
				  I:
a. by 1985 the ratio of non-federal
				  short-term general hospitals beds to population should not exceed 5.0 beds per
				  1000 population in the five-parish New Orleans area;
b. by 1985 non-federal medical-surgical beds
				  located within the New Orleans Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area should
				  reflect an annual unit occupancy rate of at least 80 percent;
c. by 1985 medical-surgical beds located in
				  the non-metropolitan parishes of Assumption, Lafourche, Plaquemines, St.
				  Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Terrebonne should reflect an
				  annual unit occupancy rate of at least 70 percent except where the number of
				  beds is less than 50 and where accessibility would otherwise be
				  jeopardized;
d. by 1985 non-federal
				  short-term obstetric beds and neo-natal beds located within the New Orleans
				  SMSA should reflect an annual unit occupancy rate of at least 75 percent and
				  should conform to other standards and goals established in the 1982-87 State
				  Health Plan;
e. by 1984 non-federal
				  short-term pediatric beds located within the New Orleans SMSA should reflect an
				  annual unit occupancy rate of at least 70 percent and should conform to other
				  standards and goals established in the 1982-87 State Health Plan.
4. Recommended actions:
a. local consumer groups, business leaders,
				  and labor unions should assume an active role in increasing the public's
				  understanding of the need to restrain rising hospital costs through local
				  action;
b. District VI of the
				  Louisiana Hospital Association, the Metropolitan Hospital Council of New
				  Orleans, and individual hospital administrators in the New Orleans SMSA should
				  institute coordinative agreements which will lead to voluntary reduction of
				  excess hospital capacity through mergers, relocations and conversions of
				  existing hospital services;
c.
				  short-term general hospitals located in the New Orleans SMSA which have annual
				  medical-surgical occupancy rates of less than 70 percent should convert
				  underutilized capacity to new services such as, but not limited to:
				  comprehensive primary care services; mental health services; immunization
				  programs;
d. prenatal care
				  programs, particularly aimed at high risk mothers; screening for early
				  detection of cancer; habilitation and rehabilitation services; services for the
				  developmentally disabled; and alternative maintenance services;
e. short-term general hospitals located in
				  non-metropolitan parishes which have an annual medical-surgical occupancy rate
				  of less than 70 percent should assess the feasibility of closure or conversion
				  to alternative services, such as ambulatory care centers or skilled nursing
				  facilities, except where such action would jeopardize accessibility to a rural
				  population group;
f. obstetric
				  units in the New Orleans SMSA which have fewer than 400 deliveries per year
				  should be consolidated or closed;
g. pediatric units in Orleans Parish with
				  fewer than 20 beds should be consolidated or closed.