Disagreement With Plan To Overhaul Louisiana Health Care System

Comments by Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals Secretary Fred Cerise and Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center Chancellor Larry Hollier in a Dec. 7 Baton Rouge Advocate article "misrepresent" a plan to shift the state away from the Charity System model of health care, Coalition of Leaders for Louisiana Healthcare Co-chair Mark Peters writes in an Advocate letter to the editor.

The plan, released by the coalition, "would offer 80,000 lower-income uninsured adults in the New Orleans area insured access to community-based, personalized care through a comprehensive coverage program backstopped by ongoing funding for care for those who remain uninsured," Peters writes, adding that the plan "represents a departure from the 'old way' of focusing on a single institutionalized health care delivery system and focuses instead on what is best for the patient." He continues, "Numerous studies, commissions and focus groups ... have pointed to a patient-centered model as the answer to Louisiana's health care crisis."

Peters writes that Cerise and Hollier's "disagreement with this approach at this pivotal time is disappointing." He states that "rigorous analysis ... on post-Katrina data from [CDC] and the Louisiana Public Health Institute" has shown that the "already-high level of state and federal funding for the uninsured in the New Orleans area is enough to provide access to comprehensive care for the 75% of the uninsured with lower incomes, while leaving almost half of the funding to pay for services for those who don't participate in the program." Peters continues, "Central to the COLLAH plan is availability of locally delivered primary care, while simultaneously releasing pressure on hospital emergency rooms and giving us the opportunity for better health outcomes."

Peters concludes, "Louisiana needs a system of health care delivery that works for the patient," adding, "In order to do that, we have to look beyond bricks-and-mortar and give all patients freedom to choose their care from a variety of qualified providers who are available to deliver it" (Peters, Baton Rouge Advocate, 12/17).

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