HJBR May/Jun 2024

DIALOGUE 12 MAY / JUN 2024 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE our state. The March of Dimes data shows there are many maternity deserts across our state in many areas that don't have appropriate access for our Medicaid moms who are either living in maternity care deserts or have low access tomaternity care, typically defined as less than two hospitals or birth centers offering OB care. One other highlight of what we do to address care for Medicaid moms in the community is we are the site of LSU's OB- GYN residency program and clinic. We get over 5,000 calls per a month to our clinic and see over 150 patients a day. That is prob- ably the biggest access point for Medicaid moms who are delivering here in our com- munity. Further, we have 16 resident physi- cian OB-GYNs training and caring for these patients in addition to faculty, and we have a really comprehensive service that offers many different modalities of care for Med- icaid moms and provides increased access to our Medicaid moms here in the capital region. Editor Woman's offers a continuing education class called Poverty Simulation. Can you tell me about this class and the impact it might have on some who have taken it? Ragas It is a dynamic example that we're able to share through our education There isn't any other place in the country that is still a freestanding private women's hospital that only focuses on the care of women and infants. Editor As the largest birthing hospital in the state, what percentage of Baton Rougians do you think have been born at your hospital? Ragas While I don’t know an exact percentage, we have had nearly 400,000 births in the last 55 years. Editor In the past few years, OLOL Children's Hospital has expanded across town. According to Woman's last annual report, there were 1,127 NICU hospital admissions at Woman's — the most in the state. Does that sound about right? Ragas Yes, we have the largest NICU in the state. Editor In the past, the most critically ill infants were flown to Children's Hospital in New Orleans. How has having a designated children's hospital across town affected infants born in your hospital, and are some still being medevacked to New Orleans? Ragas We are blessed to be able to have over 75% of the delivery market share in the nine-parish capital region, and a majority of the neonatal intensive care patients are cared for here at Woman's. That has been the case for many years, and we're focused on the care we provide and the specialized services we have as a Level III S regional referral center. We do fly some critically ill infants to NewOrleans when they need care from a specialist who isn’t available in Baton Rouge. Editor According to CDC, Louisiana ranks 6th in infant mortality with 416 babies dying in 2022. It's a problem where the southern states spike. Why do you think that is, and is there a solution? Ragas The level of infant mortality in our state needs to get better. We need to continue to work on it collectively as clinical providers in the physician space, the hospital space, and with Louisiana Department of Health. That's the only way we're going to address it. We're very focused on changing those outcomes, but we are only one part of an entire state that needs to work together to change this. Additionally, prenatal health is something that could be improved as a state. Better prenatal health is going to have a direct, positive impact on the outcomes of our infants and specifically on infant mortality. We have several different programs we work on here at Woman’s to help reduce infant mortality. Editor Your Woman's annual report shows that the Medicaid NICU population at your hospital is around 73%. That seems like an extensive percentage for taxpayers and a heart-wrenching experience for mama and baby. Are we doing enough to ensure women on Medicaid are getting the prenatal care that they need? Ragas As a hospital provider, I can only speak to what we do here. We are the largest single hospital that delivers Medicaid babies in the state, and it's a statewide effort to be able to provide access to appropriate care and delivery services for Medicaid moms in Betterprenatalhealthisgoingtohaveadirect, positiveimpactontheoutcomesofourinfants and specifically on infant mortality. We have several different programs we work on here at Woman’s to help reduce infant mortality. “