HJBR Mar/Apr 2023

DIALOGUE 12 MAR / APR 2023 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE states. To the point of how much it’s nega- tively impacting Louisiana, I don’t know that dollar amount. Editor Arkansas folks are pretty upset about it. I think they probably have more rural hospitals than Louisiana does. When you’re getting paid less in a hospital than another region, just because of where you are, from one of your highest payers, it seems they feel like it’s negatively affect- ing their hospitals and ability to recruit nationwide and just to exist. Feirn Certainly, when the wage index is sig- nificantly different in other states or other metro areas, and that drives the reimburse- ment for various procedures, it puts you at a disadvantage when a payment might be so significantly more in another region. Editor Louisiana now has the worst health ranking in the United States. Why do you think that is? Do you think it’s a citizenry problem or something flawed in our local healthcare system? Feirn I think some of it is about access and creating improved access. We, as healthcare systems and healthcare providers in Loui- siana, are certainly focused on improving — creating centers of excellence and cre- ating that access that will ultimately pro- vide for greater outcomes. That’ll take time to improve. I do think the governor, John Bel Edwards, has done a lot for this state in Medicaid expansion, improvements inMed- icaid reimbursement, and Medicaid supple- mental payments — the types of change that create greater access. LCMC Health is certainly seeing that and providing it through our partnerships like with LSU, the operation of the University Medical Center, and now with our newly announced partnership with Tulane. We see that as creating increased access points and, frankly, healthcare for those who may need it the most in our state. That and a drive toward excellence will change the trajectory in Louisiana. I know that. Our physicians, our faculty members, our employees are focused on it. Editor Do you think there are enough hos- pital beds now in New Orleans and Baton Rouge? Feirn I believe there are enough hospital beds. I think the challenge is the workforce. We have capacity, but it’s having the work- force to serve that capacity. It’s a challenge across the country as we know. There are areas of Louisiana where it’s more challeng- ing than others, and I think New Orleans is one of those areas where the shortage — whether it’s RNs, or respiratory therapists, or radiology techs — is a significant and one that can prevent growth and access to those beds that we have. The capacity is there; It’s the ability to turn that capacity on. It’s being limited by workforce right now. Editor From an administrator’s perspec- tive, do you think CMS’s hospital and nursing home rankings are an accu- rate measure of care provided at those facilities? Feirn At the end of the day, whether it’s the star ratings or Leapfrog, it’s a rating sys- tem. It creates benchmarks that we strive to achieve to move up in the ranking. It pushes all healthcare institutions to be bet- ter. From that respect, it’s helpful. We pay attention to the CMS ratings. We pay atten- tion to Leapfrog. You can’t make any rating system perfect. At the end of the day, if you have a team of folks, whether they’re on the patient experi- ence side or the quality side, and they’re dig- ging into why one hospital might be scor- ing better than the other or what the service areas that we could improve to score bet- ter are ... from that standpoint, it’s a drive toward excellence. Editor Let’s jump into history a little bit. The LCMC Health and LMC Health used to stand for Louisiana Children’s Medi- cal Center. That changed in 2009 with the merger of Children’s Hospital and Touro Infirmary. Tell us about why that merger happened and the genesis of LCMC. Feirn I would say, part of our culture at LCMC Health is a little something extra. It’s part of our DNA. It certainly came out of our work at Children’s Hospital in that it does take a little something extra to take care of children. We carry that with us. Everything that LCMC Health has done from the Touro acquisition forward is for the community. It’s about taking care of a community and doing what’s right for the community. Touro, in 2009, had always been a hospi- tal that Children’s Hospital felt was impor- tant for the community, its place in the com- munity serving the independent physician, delivering babies, rehab, etc. It was strug- gling financially, and Children’s Hospital had the wherewithal to help it financially, and, from a management standpoint, it’s what our board thought was the right thing to do. The LCMC Health board of trustees, when they think of our growth and what we do strategically, what will come to mind for them first is, “What do we believe is best for this community?” Children’s Hospital, throughout its history, has cared for every child, regardless of their ability to pay. We carry that forward through all of our facilities. Editor In 2012, it was announced that LSU Health Systems could transfer manage- ment to LCMC Health, and ultimately, LCMC Health would acquire University Medical Center Management Corporation, which managed UMC at the time. What was the thinking behind that manage- ment change and acquisition, and what did that do for LCMC Health? Feirn Our public-private partnership with the state, I just want to clarify: We own the operations of University Medical Center, and we lease the building from the state. That’s a nuance. When we took over, it was Univer- sity Medical Center Management Corpora- tion. At the time, they weren’t managing or