Baton Rouge Business Report 2017 Trends in Health Care by Baton Rouge Business Report

Trends in

HEALTH CARE 2017 SPECIAL ISSUE

NO PLACE TO GO A lack of mental health resources is draining Baton Rougeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finances and clogging its already bloated emergency rooms and parish prison.

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• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2016. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

YOUR BACK

COMES FIRST. Spine Specialists of Louisiana is now open. •

Dr. Jorge Eduardo Isaza has more than 15 years of experience in spine care

•

Fellowship trained in Pediatric and Adult Spine Surgery

•

Board Certified by the American Board of Spine Surgery

Dr. Jorge E Isaza, MD 1029 Hillary Court, Baton Rouge, LA 70810 (225) 769-3993 • info@spinespecialistsofla.com

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

CONTENTS

A18 Publisher: Rolfe H. McCollister Jr.

EDITORIAL

BRIAN BAIAMONTE

“When you cut mental health services, you might save a dollar, but it’s going to cost you $12 down the road for the hospitalizations or the prison stays.” JENNY RIDGE, development director, Mental Health Association for Greater Baton Rouge

2017 TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE A8 A9 A10 A14

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Stat Health care in the Capital Region by the numbers

The Cutting Edge A look at some of the Capital Region’s latest medical technology and developments

SPECIAL PROJECTS Account executives: J.C. Applewhite, Angie LaPorte Advertising coordinator: Lacie Thibodeaux Community liaison: Jeanne McCollister McNeil Chief financial officer: Jonathan Percle Business manager: Adam Lagneaux Business associate: Lydia Spano Office coordinator: Debbie Lamonica Courier: Jim Wainwright Receptionist: Cathy Brown Production director: Melanie Samaha Art director: Hoa Vu Graphic designers: Tammi deGeneres, Melinda Gonzalez, Rachel Parker, Emily Witt

NO PLACE TO GO

A lack of mental health resources is draining Baton Rouge’s finances and clogging its already bloated emergency rooms and parish prison.

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Retaining the lesson Baton Rouge area hospitals are even better prepared for the next natural disaster following the Great Flood of 2016.

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On the menu Louisiana restaurants are being encouraged to earn healthy designations to fight obesity and attract new, health-conscious diners.

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Under the knife? Proponents of Healthy Louisiana tout insurance gains and cost savings from the Medicaid expansion in hopes of holding off cuts in the legislative session.

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

Sales director: Jill Stokeld Advertising manager: Kerrie Richmond Senior account executives: Marielle Land-Howard, Kelly Lewis Account executives: Sarah Collins Bennett, Mallory Henderson, Melanie Ridgeway Advertising coordinator: Brittany Nieto

PRODUCTION/DESIGN

Issues to Watch The health care issues to watch in 2017

LISTMAKERS

ADVERTISING

ADMINISTRATION

People to Watch The health care professionals to watch in 2017

A34 Hospitals A35 Outpatient physical therapy clinics

Editorial director: Penny Font Executive editor: Steve Sanoski Editor: Stephanie Riegel Managing editor: Robert Stewart Online news editor: Alexandria Burris Special projects editor: Jerry Martin Staff writers: Annie Ourso, Sam Karlin Director of research: Sierra Crump Digital content editor: Mark Clements Contributing writers: Gabrielle Braud, Maria Clark, Tom Cook, Marissa Frayer, Jeremy Harper, David Jacobs, April Capochino Myers, Maggie Heyn Richardson, Meredith Whitten Contributing photographers: Allie Appel, Brian Baiamonte, Marie Constantin, Don Kadair, Tim Mueller, Collin Richie

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After-hours and urgent care clinics Specialty hospitals

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Audience development coordinator: Kenna Maranto A publication of Louisiana Business Inc. Chairman: Rolfe H. McCollister Jr. President & CEO: Julio A. Melara Executive assistant: Millie Coon Subscriptions/Customer Service 9029 Jefferson Highway, Suite 300 Baton Rouge, LA 70809 225-421-8181 BusinessReport.com email: subscriptions@businessreport.com ©Copyright 2017 by Louisiana Business Incorporated. All rights reserved by LBI. The Greater Baton Rouge Business Report cannot be responsible for the return of unsolicited material—manuscripts or photographs, with or without the inclusion of a stamped, self-addressed return envelope. Information in this publication is gathered from sources considered to be reliable, but the accuracy and completeness of the information cannot be guaranteed. No information expressed here constitutes a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any securities.

• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2017. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

SPONSOR MESSAGES

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE 2017

INTERVENTIONAL PAIN INSTITUTE: “Serving People, Treating Pain.” In recent years, there have been major advances in treatment for chronic pain. Interventional pain specialists have gained a greater understanding for how chronic pain develops and, through research, have developed sophisticated treatments to provide relief to patients. We are proud to support Business Report’s Trends in Health Care because we believe that these avenues to communicate the latest information within each medical specialty are vitally important to health and wellness of our community. Our staff at Interventional Pain Institute continues to research the latest in treatment options to provide patients with the utmost in quality care. We understand that chronic pain can originate from back injuries, car accidents, sports injuries and health conditions such as migraines, diabetes, arthritis, shingles and cancer. We aim to create individualized treatments because the sensation of pain occurs differently for each person. We are encouraged by new research into how pain signals transmit to the brain and how the body responds. The results of such research are new interventional techniques and better medication for treatment and pain relief. We are excited about brand new treatment options for patients with the same chronic conditions that do not include management through medication.

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

One of the newest techniques for treating intractable pain is Dorsal Root Ganglion (DRG) therapy. This new type of neurostimulation is designed to help our patients fight against the focal and intractable chronic pain syndromes that they face every day. The increasing number of patients suffering from regional pain syndromes resulting from procedures like foot surgery, total knee arthroscopies, hernia surgeries, hip surgeries, nerve injuries, phantom limb pain and much more can find improved, long-lasting relief from DRG stimulation. Dr. Johnston is one of the only physicians in the Baton Rouge region trained to use this innovative therapy. Whether you or your loved ones are suffering from any chronic condition, know that interventional techniques are available. Our team is dedicated to providing exceptional care and is committed to serving you to the best of our ability.

Barrett Johnston, M.D.

Founder INTERVENTIONAL PAIN INSTITUTE Medical Director ADVANCED PAIN INSTITUTE TREATMENT CENTER Interventional Pain Fellowship HARVARD BRIGHAM & WOMAN’S HOSPITAL

(225) 769-3993 10629 Hillary Court Baton Rouge, LA 70810 www.spinespecialistsofla.com

SPINE SURGERY HAS seen some major advances in the last 15 years. Over the years I have provided to my patients the latest technology and options available for their unique needs, having participated as lead investigator in many of the clinical trials of the new technology that is now widely available to all. To date, most new technologies have involved reducing postoperative pain and speeding recovery, preserving motion in the spine, and enhancing the fusion process. Newer technologies that seem to be here to stay include: • Cervical Artificial Disc Replacement and Lumbar Artificial Disc Replacement for treatment of disc pathology are standing the test of time (with 7 to 10 years of clinical results reported in the US) and emerging as a mainstay alternative to the well-known Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion (ACDF) and the Anterior Lumbar Fusion (ALIF), respectively. • Fusion outcomes are also improving over time, with improving fusion rates, and less postoperative pain and complications. There are less invasive approaches, more bone graft options, and improved fixation devices and implants which continue to make spinal fusion a very effective treatment for many individuals. • Discectomy of a Herniated Disc through a scope, many times marketed as “laser surgery,” is also an outstanding outpatient surgical alternative allowing the patient to go home the same day or early the next day after surgery with a keyhole

incision in their back. • Sacroiliac joint fusion is still a newer procedure but is gaining more widespread adoption. With newer, less invasive fusion approaches now available, it is a more commonly offered treatment option for those with pain caused by sacroiliac joint dysfunction, which many times is incorrectly diagnosed and treated as low back pain. • Vertebral augmentation for a painful fractured vertebra has been around for a while and patients now have many options to choose from, including options for vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. Before, a patient with an osteoporosis compression fracture would pretty much only have nonsurgical treatment options, but vertebral augmentation has now become a mainstay option that offers certain patients a relatively reliable path to pain relief. With the opening of our new clinic, my team and I continue our commitment to provide excellent and compassionate care for our patients. At Spine Specialists of Louisiana we are proud to be able to offer our patients all of these surgical options as well as conservative treatments specifically tailored to their spine conditions.

AS CEO OF UnitedHealthcare-Gulf States for the past two years, and an employee for the past 15 years, I am committed to bringing a new approach to coordinated patient care, one that has the ability to lower healthcare costs and improve each person’s health. And it’s happening right here in Louisiana. Through a new model called an Accountable Care Organization, or ACO, more than 16,000 Louisiana physicians are paid for quality results and improving people’s health, rather than the number of services they provide to a patient—in other words, value over volume. Often many people—especially those struggling with chronic conditions and receiving care from multiple providers—spend too much time trying to keep their doctors updated on their condition. Not only is this frustrating for patients, but this fragmented communication can result in duplicate tests, added expense and uncoordinated care. Consumers deserve more for their health care dollars and should be receiving and paying for care that is based on proven quality measures. This includes taking into consideration their specific health care needs, not how many office visits they make each year. A key ingredient of more effectively managing

care is tapping into available data. By serving nearly one million Louisianans statewide, UnitedHealthcare is able to supplement Louisiana’s current health information exchange with sophisticated, close-to-real-time data and analytics, including emergency room visits, hospital admissions and medications prescribed, while still protecting each patient’s privacy. By identifying “gaps in care” we can give the entire care team—from primary care physician to specialist to pharmacist—clear, actionable data, which will allow us to more effectively treat and advance each person’s overall health. To effectively impact health care reform, we must make high quality care accessible and affordable for everyone. This is done by advancing sustainable coverage solutions, reducing the complexity and costs to consumers, and providing innovative solutions to ensure more effective health care for the people of Louisiana, the Gulf States and America. It is possible to achieve higher-quality care and lower costs. The future of health care is here, and it is now in our own backyard.

Jorge E. Isaza, MD

Orthopaedic Spine Surgeon, Pediatric and Adult Spine Surgery SPINE SPECIALISTS OF LOUISIANA

Joe Ochipinti

CEO UNITEDHEALTHCARE-GULF STATES

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

NOW

STAT

HEALTH CARE IN THE CAPITAL REGION AND LOUISIANA BY THE NUMBERS

9,068

577,464 123

4,700

ISTOCK

COURTESY WOMAN’S HOSPITAL

1,313

THE NEUROMEDICAL CENTER CLINIC performed 9,068 total MRIs in 2016, out of some 106,553 patient visits last year. That means MRIs made up about 8.5% of all patient visits last year. On average, the clinic performed nearly 35 MRIs per working day last year.

AS PART OF its Challenge for a Healthier Louisiana grant program, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation has distributed 577,464 pounds of fresh produce over the last three years in an effort to get people to eat better. The program also helped build or improve community gardens and implement new walking and biking paths, among other healthy initiatives.

COLLIN RICHIE

WOMAN’S HOSPITAL’S neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU, admitted 1,313 patients in 2016—and that number could go up in 2017. The hospital in February opened up a $6.5 million expansion of its NICU, which features 11 new rooms and allows parents to stay overnight with their babies.

THANKS TO ITS Prevention on the Go program, Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer center screened more than 4,700 people last year for cancer, diagnosing 38 people with the affliction. Prevention on the Go, which offers free detection screenings at public places like shopping centers and schools, will launch a component later this year that targets employees at companies.

TO IS

IN A BLOOD DRIVE on July 22, Lane Regional Medical Center collected 123 units of blood from 113 donors—a record for the hospital from a single drive. Lane officials attributed the increase, at least in part, to a communitywide response following the slayings of three law enforcement officers earlier in the month.

SINCE 1984, Baton Rouge General’s School of Nursing has produced more than 900 graduates, including 31 in 2016. The General’s nursing school generally ranks among the state’s top performers on the National Council Licensure Examination, with its graduates historically hitting a 98% pass rate.

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

OCHSNER HEALTH SYSTEM’S Baton Rouge Cancer Center is almost complete. Slated to open this summer, the $12.8 million center, located on Ochsner’s O’Neal Lane campus, will be the first in Baton Rouge to offer a hematology/oncology outpatient clinic with both chemotherapy infusion and radiation oncology services on one floor of the same building.

$1.9 million OUR LADY OF THE LAKE recently reopened its café after completing a $1.9 million renovation earlier this year. The café, which averages roughly 60,000 meals served per year, now features an Italian station with a woodstone pizza oven, a selfserve soup and salad bar, expanded deli and sushi station, and a coffee house. It is open to patients and the public.

DON KADAIR

ISTOCK

900

COURTESY OCHSNER HEALTH SYSTEM

$12.8 million

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

PEOPLE TO WATCH

The Capital Region health care leaders who are making headlines in 2017

EDGARDO TENREIRO

LARRY MEESE

THOUGH IT CAST a wide net, Baton Rouge General Medical Center didn’t look far to find its new CEO. Seven months after being named acting CEO following Mark Slyter’s abrupt departure, Edgardo Tenreiro was named the hospital’s permanent leader in February after a nationwide search. He served as Baton Rouge General’s COO from 2008 to 2013, then left briefly to become CEO of Palos Community Hospital near Chicago before returning as the General’s COO in 2015.

FOR THE FIRST time in nearly 14 years, Lane Regional Medical Center in Zachary has a new CEO. Larry Meese will serve as the hospital’s new leader after Randy Olson retired in early March. Lane’s board of directors tabbed Meese after a five-month search for Olson’s replacement. Meese, who holds a bachelor’s from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from Cornell University, spent the last eight years as CEO of Jackson Hospital in Marianna, Florida.

LAURINDA CALONGNE

DR. CLIFF MOORE

LAURINDA CALONGNE IS leading a revolution at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. As part of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s Pursuing Excellence Initiative, Calongne is spearheading a four-year effort at OLOL designed to change the way residents are trained. OLOL is one of only eight hospitals nationwide selected for the endeavor. Colongne’s team and the other seven sites will conduct pilot projects focused around innovation that could be recommended as best practices nationwide.

DR. CLIFF MOORE, the only fetal surgery specialist in the Gulf Coast, joined Woman’s Hospital’s maternalfetal medicine group in November. Moore performs complex surgeries on babies in utero, including spina bifida correction and laser therapy for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. A north Louisiana native and LSU alumnus, Moore moved to Woman’s after spending the last seven years at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans.

CEO Baton Rouge General

Chief academic officer Our Lady of the Lake

CEO Lane Regional Medical Center

Fetal surgery specialist Woman’s Hospital

DR. RENEE LEVINE

DR. RONALD DELRIE,

DR. RENEE LEVINE has quite the task ahead of her. Levine will lead the expansion of Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center’s functional radiosurgery program, which uses noninvasive techniques to treat patients suffering from chronic neurologic conditions. The team led by Levine will offer new treatments not previously available in the Capital Region, including the Gamma Knife Icon technology, which treats brain tumors and central nervous system disorders without harming healthy tissue.

DR. RONALD DELRIE, an oncologist at Ochsner Medical Center-Baton Rouge, has been named president of the Baton Rouge Oncology Group, a forum for area physicians dedicated to advancing cancer care in the Capital Region. Meeting monthly, the physicians have collaborative discussions with national speakers on the latest cancer therapies and diagnostic approaches. A Pineville native and Tulane School of Medicine graduate, Delrie joined Ochsner’s Baton Rouge center in 2014.

DR. ALICIA TAYLOR

KIM PETTIJOHN

BATON ROUGE GENERAL is opening a new OB/GYN clinic at its Mid City location, and Dr. Alicia Taylor will head up its medical services. Taylor also will serve as the hospital’s surgical service division chief for obstetrics and gynecology and will work closely with Baton Rouge General’s Birth Center. Taylor, who is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology, specializes in prenatal and post-natal care, birth control, family planning and menopause.

A 12-YEAR VETERAN of The Spine Hospital of Louisiana, Kim Pettijohn has taken the reins as the organization’s chief nursing officer. Pettijohn will oversee the hospital’s clinical operations, compliance and care quality. She joined the hospital in 2004 and six years later was promoted to clinical services director, a title she held until her recent promotion. Pettijohn’s past efforts helped the hospital earn a slew of national and local honors, including back-to-back Hospital of the Year honors from the Louisiana Nurses Foundation.

Radiation oncologist Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center

Director Baton Rouge General Physicians OB/GYN Clinic

President Baton Rouge Oncology Group

Chief nursing officer The Spine Hospital of Louisiana at The NeuroMedical Center

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

The Cutting Edge A look at the Capital Region’s latest medical developments

Woman’s Hospital is the first in Louisiana to use the Hologic Affirm system, which performs breast biopsies more quickly by extracting small samples of breast tissues using minimally invasive procedures. Patients can lie down comfortably during the procedure, and it helps surgeons more easily reach lesions that are normally difficult to access.

ON THE TABLE

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University (formerly Our Lady of the Lake College) is one of three Louisiana institutions to own an Anatomage Table, a virtual simulation device that teaches students about anatomy without using an actual body. The table offers an expansive library of digital human cadavers that show images similar to what’s seen in an X-ray, MRI or CT scan.

TIM MUELLER

QUICK CHECK

LINEAR EQUATION The new linear accelerator at Baton Rouge General’s Pennington Cancer Center is reducing cancer treatment times from hours to minutes. The device quickly and accurately targets tumors that move, shortening treatment times and reducing necessary X-ray dosages by 25%.

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BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

Krista Madere, a NeuroMedical Center occupational therapist, has invented an anti-tremor glove system to help reduce hand tremors associated with Parkinson’s disease. The Readi Steadi glove, which retails for $300, gives sufferers of tremors a way to fight their ailment without needing pricey or invasive surgery.

COURTESY BATON ROUGE GENERAL

COURTESY HOLOGIC

ICA

E NT

STEADY HAND

BREATH OF FRESH AIR

MOLECULAR MOVEMENT GETTY IMAGES

Our Lady of the Lake has opened its Wound and Hyperbaric Center, which uses hyperbaric chambers filled with 100% oxygen—compared to the 21% of oxygen we breathe in normal air—to promote the body’s natural healing process. The chamber therapy can help heal injured tissues, fight infections and build new blood vessels.

LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center has been awarded a $5.28 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study the benefits of exercise on health, specifically the molecular mechanisms behind these benefits. The award is part of the largest-ever targeted NIH investment into better understanding how physical activity helps the body.

HO TO

FASTLane Urgent Care in Zachary has become a certified collection site for hair analysis and oral fluid testing for DISA, a global employee screening company that performs drug tests and background checks. A hair analysis identifies six to 10 times more drug users than normal tests, while oral fluid testing is an alternative to urine testing that can be done in front of an observer, eliminating the risk of adulterated samples. /I

S TO

COURTESY OUR LADY OF THE LAKE

PASSING THE TEST

TY ET

AG IM

LASERLIKE FOCUS

COURTESY SPINE HOSPITAL OF LOUISIANA

The Spine Hospital of Louisiana is the first hospital on the Gulf Coast to offer laser spine surgery. Using new technology, doctors can treat a variety of spinal conditions using smaller incisions, which leads to faster recovery times.

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

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GETTY IMAGES

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

BREATHING EASIER Ochsner Medical Center-Baton Rouge has begun offering a pair of new procedures to treat lung and gastrointestinal conditions. The first, an endobronchial ultrasound, examines a patient’s lungs and takes samples of glands in the center of the chest using an ultrasound scan. The second, an endoscopic ultrasound, uses highfrequency sound waves to produce detailed images of the digestive tract and chest, as well as nearby organs and lymph nodes.

STEMMING THE TIDE A stem cell therapy center has opened in Baton Rouge. The Louisiana Regenerative Medicine Center, located at 9456 Jefferson Highway, Suite A, offers treatments using stem cells derived from a patient’s own fat cells and platelet rich plasma to treat damaged tissues and orthopedic conditions, as well as various forms of arthritis.

STAFF PHOTO

Our Lady of the Lake, is one of only six surgeons in the country to use the Robotic Whipple procedure to perform pancreatic cancer surgeries. The Robotic Whipple uses several small incisions in the abdomen to insert surgical instruments— including a highdefinition camera to guide movements— to make smaller, more precise movements in a patient’s body.

COURTESY INTUITIVE SURGICAL

WHIP IT UP Dr. John J. Tabor, a surgeon at

COURTESY ELEKTA INC.

ICONIC WORK

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BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

Mary Bird Perkins-Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center is one of the few facilities in the country with the Gamma Knife Icon, a device that treats brain tumors and central nervous system disorders. The device targets cancerous tumors without harming healthy tissue, allowing patients to recovery more quickly after receiving treatment.

GROWING UP

SHEDDING POUNDS

COURTESY SPINE HOSPITAL OF LOUISIANA

COURTESY BATON ROUGE GENERAL

The Spine Hospital of Louisiana has finished a $5 million expansion, which includes a new, state-ofthe-art operating room. The 1,000-square-foot OR gives surgeons more freedom to move, and it is equipped with a pair of 60-inch HD monitors to guide surgery, and LED lighting for brighter light at a lower temperature.

CHANGE OF HEART

GETTY IMAGES

Baton Rouge General has opened a new electrophysiology lab on its Bluebonnet campus in an effort to bring a wide variety of cardiac and vascular procedures under one roof. Procedures that can be performed in the multi-purpose space range from atrial fibrillation ablations and atrial flutter ablations to vascular interventional procedures.

Our Lady of the Lake has begun offering endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty, a new weight loss procedure that shrinks the stomach using a suturing device inserted through the mouth rather than cutting open a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abdomen. The 90-minute procedure involves placing an endoscope down a patientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s throat and into the stomach, where a tiny camera allows the surgeon to see inside the stomach and place sutures to make the stomach smaller.

ROBOT READY Ochsner Medical Center-Baton Rouge is expanding its use of robotics in surgeries, particularly in weight loss management and gastroesophageal reflux. The robotic procedures are minimally invasive and offer fewer side effects and a shorter recovery time. The hospital hopes to introduce more robot-aided procedures in 2017.

COURTESY INTUITIVE SURGICAL

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

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TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

Under the microscope The Capital Region health care issues to watch in 2017

COLLIN RICHIE

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA

The Baton Rouge Health District is still moving forward—though how much steam it gains this year remains to be seen. The district named an executive director, Suzy Sonnier (pictured below), and a board last year, but it has already stalled plans to create a diabetes and obesity research center. District officials say they’re honing in on behavioral health care efforts in the meantime, and developers are still eyeing vacant land in the district for new mixed-use developments.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

STUCK IN PLACE

LEGAL LIMBO As Congress continues to debate plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, it’s unclear exactly what the impact will be. The initial Republican plan would have rolled back the Medicaid expansion under the ACA, which would take away federal dollars Louisiana received last year after growing its Medicaid program through the act. For now, Louisiana is in wait-and-see mode, which is making health care insurers and providers anxious.

RISING HIGH As President Donald Trump might say, the Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital is going to be huge. The facility, set to be completed in 2019, will feature 130 beds in 350,000 square feet of patient space. It will also house a dedicated emergency department, a 30-bed pediatric intensive care unit, and a 95,000-square-foot office building. The expected price tag is roughly $230 million.

COURTESY OUR LADY OF THE LAKE

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North Baton Rouge is finally getting an emergency room, which it has been void of since the closures of Earl K. Long in 2013 and Baton Rouge General’s Mid City ER in 2015. Our Lady of the Lake broke ground in January on a new ER at its Airline Highway urgent care clinic. The facility, which will be staffed around the clock with emergency physicians, is expected to open in October.

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

COURTESY OUR LADY OF THE LAKE

EMERGING METHODS

The Pennington Biomedical Research Center is on the hunt for a new executive director. Dr. William Cefalu (pictured below) left earlier this year to become the chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. LSU officials credited Cefalu with elevating Pennington’s status in scientific research and attracting more than $50 million in grants and contracts. In other words, the next executive director has big shoes to fill. LSU says an international search for Cefalu’s replacement is underway.

FILE PHOTO

CENTER OF ATTENTION

Baton Rouge General appears to making progress on its plan to reinvent its Mid City campus. Among the recent announcements: The Hospice of Baton Rouge will move its offices to the Mid City campus in April; BRG Physicians opened a new OB/GYN clinic there; and the campus’s Family Health Center practice has doubled in size. BRG says the Mid City hospital is more than 75% occupied and its medical office building is more than 90% full—up 20% from last year. Only time will tell if the envisioned Mid City renaissance continues.

FILE PHOTO

MID CITY MAKEOVER

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

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TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

Medical marijuana is advancing in Louisiana—but who exactly will bring it to fruition is still being ironed out. The LSU and Southern University AgCenters, which the Legislature tapped in 2016 to lead the program, are looking for private partners to grow and produce the marijuana. Both schools have sent out requests for proposals and are scoping out locations for their production facilities. The price tag for any potential partner could be steep: Southern expects its producers to have to invest at least $5 million to $7 million.

ISTOCK

POT SHOT

NURSING BACK TO HEALTH

ISTOCK

The Louisiana Workforce Commission is gearing up to address an anticipated statewide workforce shortage of nurses. The state labor department in October received a $1.5 million federal grant to increase the state’s participation in the Department of Labor’s Registered Apprenticeship program. The state is teaming up with Ochsner Health System to establish a paid apprenticeship system for licensed practical Issue Date: 4.11.17 Ad proof #1 nurses, with hopes that the program uporopportunities • Please respond by e-mail or fax with will your open approval minor revisions. for people who otherwise couldn’t afford to make a career change. • AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

SAVE THE DATE

2017 Career Fair Belle of Baton Rouge

May 25, 2017

Veterans 9am-11am & General Public 11am-2pm What our Employers/Partners can expect: Complimentary Booths • Wi-Fi • Hospitality Room • Interview Room

To register contact Mia Hyde 225-358-4538 | email: mhyde@brgov.com Presented by:

A Proud Partner of the

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BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

In partnership with:

network

• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees. Carefully check this ad for: CORRECT ADDRESS • CORRECT PHONE NUMBER • ANY TYPOS This ad design © Louisiana Business, Inc. 2017. All rights reserved. Phone 225-928-1700 • Fax 225-926-1329

The Region’s Only Provider of SPINAL STENOSIS

HERNIATED DISCS

DEGENERATIVE DISORDERS

SPINAL TRAUMA

Ask Your Physician Today!

Charles R. Bowie, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Luke A. Corsten, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Scott W. Soleau, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Martin A. Langston, MD Pain Medicine/PM&R (225) 768-2050

Gregory L. Fautheree, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Richard A. Stanger, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

John E. Nyboer, MD Pain Medicine/PM&R (225) 768-2050

Horace L. Mitchell, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Eric K. Oberlander, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Paul J. Waguespack, MD C. Chambliss Harrod, MD Neurosurgeon Ortho-Spine Surgeon (225) 768-2050 (225) 766-0050

Scott D. Nyboer, MD Pain Medicine/PM&R (225) 768-2050

Samir K. Patel, MD Interventional Pain (225) 768-2050

Kelly J. Scrantz, MD Neurosurgeon (225) 768-2050

Kevin P. McCarthy, MD Ortho-Spine Surgeon (225) 766-0050

Jyoti S. Pham, MD Pain Medicine/PM&R (225) 768-2050

PROUDLY PHYSICIAN OWNED 10105 Park Rowe Circle | Baton Rouge, LA 70810 | www.TheNeuroMedicalCenter.com/Spine-Hospital | Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

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TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

COVER STORY

NO PLACE TO GO A lack of mental health resources is draining Baton Rouge’s finances and clogging its already bloated emergency rooms and parish prison. BY DAVID JACOBS

JOE, 55, SUFFERS from schizophrenia. He lives in a Baton Rouge retirement and assisted living community, sees a psychiatrist and a social worker every six months, and takes three medications that help him sleep. For 30 years, he has made regular visits to the Alliance House Drop-In Center on North 12th Street. Other than his family, he says, the staff are his closest friends. When asked what he would do if the center didn’t exist, Joe, whose full name is being withheld to protect his privacy, looks down at his lap. “I don’t know,” he says after a moment. “I have friends here. I have things to do. It keeps me stable.” The center hosts members with serious mental illnesses—mostly schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder—each weekday morning until midafternoon. There’s a computer room, a small library, and a rec room with two pool tables, air hockey and a recently donated piano. Monday through Thursday, members compare notes about their lives in a morning meeting, followed by classes, workshops and afternoon exercise. Depending on the day, the agenda could include personal finance, music appreciation or an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. On Fridays they take field trips; they might see a movie, go bowling or have a meal out. Members learn about their illnesses, how to manage their emotions, and how to advocate for themselves with benefit and health care providers. Up to two dozen people might drop in on a typical day, and about 200 members will use the center over the course of a year. “If we see something that may not be quite right, we can give the doctors and the social workers a call,” says program director Brenda Philson. “I think we really keep them out of the hospital.” Program manager Katherine Anders says their members seem to be sicker since Earl K. Long Medical Center closed in 2013. The hospital was an important referral point for low-income residents with mental health problems, Philson A18

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says, and now it’s harder for them to figure out what services are available. The drop-in center is one piece of what ideally would be an unbroken network of care. Melissa Silva, executive director of the Mental Health Association for Greater Baton Rouge, which oversees the drop-in center, says the region already lacks enough mental health services to meet the need, and state budget cuts continue to eat away at the resources that do exist. “When you cut mental health services, you might save a dollar, but it’s going to cost you $12 down the road for the hospitalizations or the prison stays,” says Jenny Ridge, the association’s development director. Silva is dealing with a recent $50,000 cut in state funding. The association does private fundraising, but mental health isn’t the most popular charity, and last year’s flood will make raising money even more difficult. She says 93 cents of every dollar the association receives goes directly into services, so there’s not much fat to cut. Drop-in center members depend on the psychiatrists and social workers of Capital Area Human Services, which also suffers annual budget cuts. CAHS provides those clinical services while going beyond its intended mission to help people in severe crisis. Meanwhile, law enforcement officers, asked to be de facto case workers for those who fall through the cracks, often are left with two options: The emergency room or parish prison. Last fall, 51% of East Baton Rouge Parish voters rejected a proposed 1.5-mill property tax that would have generated about $5.8 million a year for the Bridge Center for Hope, a project meant to divert people with mental health and substance abuse issues away from ERs and the parish prison and into treatment. But even if some version of the Bridge Center eventually comes to fruition, it would still represent only one link in the care network. The national mental health crisis is a microcosm of the challenge of health care in general: How to get people the right care in the right place at the right time, before it’s too late.

“The jail has become the default mental health facility.”

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DR. WILLIAM “BEAU” CLARK, East Baton Rouge Parish coroner and president of the Louisiana State Medical Society

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COVER STORY

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TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

A ‘ PERFECT STORM ’ Dr. Robert Blanche has worked in mental health care in Baton Rouge for more than three decades. Recently, he has seen “unprecedented numbers of people facing mental health crises” thanks to a “perfect storm” of disturbing trends. “It’s the major social problem of our time,” he says. Addiction often contributes to psychiatric illness, and vice versa. Five years ago, Blanche says, he might have seen one substance-induced psychosis out of 20 patients. Today, about half of Blanche’s patients at Seaside Health System behavioral hospital have substance abuse issues. Methamphetamine, usually associated with rural areas, has become more prevalent in Baton Rouge, as have synthetic drugs, he says. For several decades, there was

“It’s the major social problem of our time.” DR. ROBERT BLANCHE, Seaside Health System

a national push to deinstitutionalize the mentally ill. In Louisiana over the past five years, Blanche says, state budget cuts have led to a dramatic reduction in the number of psychiatric beds available for lengthy stays. Many of the people who filled those beds ended up homeless or in lightly regulated, possibly unlicensed group homes where their health may not be well monitored, he says. When they have a psychotic break, they often end up in an ER. Blanche says most ER doctors aren’t trained to deal with seriously mentally ill patients, whose presence ties up staff and beds. “We work diligently to get the resources these people need,” says Denise Dugas, executive

director of mental and behavioral health at Our Lady of the Lake. “We’ll hold onto those people in our inpatient units. It creates a bottleneck.” There is a nationwide shortage of mental health providers, says Dr. Lee Tynes, who serves on the faculty of the LSU-OLOL psychiatry residency program. Many private-practice psychiatrists in Baton Rouge don’t take insurance, let alone Medicaid, and it can take several weeks to schedule an appointment even if you can afford to pay cash. The number of people showing up at OLOL’s ER with mental health issues has doubled over the past four years, Tynes says. Though OLOL is now being asked to care for poor patients who

used to go to the Earl K. Long charity hospital, he says that change alone doesn’t nearly account for the increase. Tynes laments state budget cuts that eliminated beds for people who need intermediate levels of care at places like Central Louisiana State Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Pineville. One such patient might now spend three or four months occupying an acute-care bed where 10 or 15 people facing an immediate crisis could have been treated. The region also needs more “community-level services,” he says. Not just walk-in health clinics, but transportation, affordable housing and job programs. People who struggle to meet other basic needs obviously have a hard time managing their health conditions. “The issues all intertwine,” Tynes says. Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

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COVER STORY

Dr. Harold Brandt, an internal medicine physician at the Baton Rouge Clinic, says the clinic doesn’t have a psychiatrist. They’re developing a mental health solution, he says, but it’s hard to make the numbers work. Ideally, primary and mental health care are integrated, and a patient’s primary care doctor can make an immediate “warm handoff” to a mental health specialist when needed, Brandt says. But the fee-for-service payment model—which rewards volume more than effectiveness—still dominates health care, and it isn’t cost-effective to have a psychiatrist sitting around waiting for referrals. CAHS provides behavioral health care for adults and children, substance abuse prevention and treatment, developmental disability support and other services in seven parishes to people with or without insurance, often on an income-based sliding fee scale. The quasi-public, state-affiliated organization, which served 10,643 people in 2016,

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BRIAN BAIAMONTE

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

sees its state allocation cut every year, says Executive Director Dr. Jan Kasofsky, including $1.3 million this year. “Capital Area was never funded, nor was it part of our contract with the state, to provide crisis services,” she says. But with fewer state beds available and emergency rooms inundated, CAHS is left to pick up the slack, developing a mobile crisis team and staging social workers in the parish prison. “It’s not right for people who are sick to go to jail,” Kasofsky says. ‘ NOWHERE ELSE TO TAKE THEM ’ On the morning of Feb. 13, 2016, Baton Rouge police received reports of property damage and shots fired in the area of Harry Drive and Monet Avenue. According to East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III’s public report, an officer spotted Calvin Smith, 23, who had fled the scene in a gray Dodge Avenger. Smith led the

officer on a five-minute highspeed chase before stopping the car in front of a house, where a second officer arrived. Smith got out of the car and began firing a stolen AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, the report says, and the officers returned fire. Both officers were injured, and Smith was killed. Smith had been suffering from

officer-involved shootings, Moore says, it became clear that mental illness is often a significant factor. “That was eye-opening to us,” he says. After Hurricane Katrina, CAHS helped develop the Mental Health Emergency Room Extension for Earl K. Long. Housed in a doublewide trailer in the back of the hospital’s parking lot, the feder-

“There are resources that are there, but they are scattered, and sometimes people don’t know the appropriate resources. The more we can do to coordinate and publicize those resources, certainly I think we’ll have better outcomes.” KATHY KLIEBERT, chair, Bridge Center for Hope board of directors

mental health issues, including severe depression, exacerbated by the end of his relationship with his child’s mother, the report says. He was off his medications, and had discussed committing murder or suicide. While reviewing recent domestic violence incidents and

ally funded facility saw almost 4,000 patients in 3.5 years, says Blanche, who directed the unit. About two-thirds were directed to appropriate outpatient care and didn’t need to be admitted to the hospital. Earl K. Long provided medical care for parish prisoners and was

well-secured. When law enforcement officers arrested someone they suspected was mentally ill, they could drop them off at the MHERE and get on with their shift. When Earl K. Long was closed, MHERE closed with it. Now, officers might spend four hours waiting for the person in their custody to be admitted to an area ER, Moore says. The East Baton Rouge Parish Prison typically houses about 1,600 inmates, and about 20% to 30% suffer from mental illness, says Lt. Col. Dennis Grimes, the prison’s warden. For the past two years, he had two social workers provided by CAHS to work with incoming prisoners, but that contract was a casualty of city-parish budget cuts. Often, when the cops are called to arrest someone with a mental illness who has committed a minor crime, the person who made the call doesn’t actually want the other person to go to jail, Grimes says. “There’s nowhere else to take

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COVER STORY

them except to jail,” he adds. “When people come to prison and they’re mentally ill, we’re tasked with something that we don’t have the capability to do.” Grimes has started providing training for his officers to recognize mental health issues and to de-escalate confrontations that may be caused by those issues, but there’s only so much they can do. “The jail has become the default mental health facility,” says Dr. William “Beau” Clark, East Baton Rouge Parish coroner and president of the Louisiana State Medical Society. The coroner’s office conducts mental health investigations and can order someone suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues to be detained and treated to protect themselves or others. In 2011, the office issued 473 orders of protective custody and 3,152 emergency certificates. In 2016, those totals had increased to 1,024 and 8,201, respectively. The Bridge Center was touted as a means to “decriminalize mental illness.” Consultants estimated it could save the parish almost $55 million in direct costs during its first decade, along with more than $288 million in indirect savings through higher productivity among the mentally ill and reduced homelessness. But voters last fall narrowly rejected the tax that would have paid for startup and operations, and the Metro Council so far has decided not to put it back on the ballot. Kathy Kliebert, the former state health secretary who chairs the project’s board, says it’s still possible the tax will appear on a ballot in the future, but she doesn’t expect the council to change direction in the short term. A board retreat to regroup and figure out the next steps was planned for early April. The Bridge Center project envisioned assessment teams, inpatient beds, a sobering center and other services under one roof, Kliebert notes. Maybe some of those pieces still could be funded through grants or existing funding streams. And perhaps the Capital Region could get better results if leaders and providers could figure out

how to better leverage assets the community already has. “There are resources that are there, but they are scattered, and sometimes people don’t know the appropriate resources,” Kliebert says. “The more we can do to coordinate and publicize those resources, certainly I think we’ll have better outcomes.” FINDING SOLUTIONS Oceans Healthcare provides inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services throughout Louisiana and Texas. None of the communities the company works with are satisfied with the amount of services available in their regions, says CEO Stuart Archer. “Everybody struggles in their own way,” he says. Oceans was established in 2004 and arrived in Baton Rouge in 2006. It started out treating seniors, but has begun branching out to younger adults. The company currently has 20 beds in Baton Rouge, and hopes to break ground this year on a project that would add another 20 to 24 beds. Republicans in Congress are trying to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. While it’s impossible to know for sure if they will pull it off this year or what the results will look like, Archer worries about losing the mandate to cover mental health and substance abuse treatment. He says a proposal to charge 30% higher premiums to people who let their coverage lapse could price out people with chronic mental health issues, because they often have trouble maintaining steady employment and staying insured. Pretty much any discussion about providing health care for vulnerable populations involves Medicaid, so losing the ACA’s Medicaid expansion is a huge concern. Medicaid is the single largest payer for mental health services in the nation, according to the federal government, and plays a growing role in the reimbursement of substance abuse disorder services. However, there has been talk of turning Medicaid into a block grant program, which could allow states more flexibility. “The president is saying that more people will have coverage,”

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CUT BY CUT: Capital Area Human Services served 10,643 people in 2016, providing behavioral health care for adults and children, substance abuse prevention and treatment, developmental disability support and other services in seven parishes to people with or without insurance. But providing those services is becoming more difficult with each passing year as the agency’s state allocation continues to be cut, says CAHS Executive Director Dr. Jan Kasofsky, including $1.3 million this year.

says Kasofsky, CAHS director. “We’ll just have to wait and see what that means.” Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana is working with its partner, New Directions Behavioral Health, to build a strong network of mental and behavioral health care providers, says Dr. Paul Murphree, interim chief medical officer with Blue Cross. Using a value-based reimbursement model—that is, paying for good results, not just volume of services—Blue Cross is embedding behavioral health professionals within large groups of primary care physicians, while working with smaller primary care practices to facilitate referrals, he says. Baton Rouge General Medical Center has 50 inpatient beds at

its inpatient behavioral health center in Mid City. The campus would be a workable site for an intervention program like the Bridge Center, says Dr. Kenny Cole, the hospital’s chief clinical transformation officer. The General largely runs its inpatient and outpatient businesses on a fee-for-service basis. But for their self-funded employee health plan, they’ve created an “innovation center” that embeds behavioral health providers such as social workers into primary care, Cole says. If a diabetic has a problem with binge eating, an on-site behavioral therapist is there to help. “You sort of have the traditional behavioral health model, which is a fee-for-service model that is

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COVER STORY

underfunded and undervalued, what each other does?” and then you try to do things that Dugas, the OLOL executive, are innovative,” Cole says. says the Mayor’s Healthy City A new $50,000 MacArthur Initiative—a public-private colFoundation grant for 18 months laboration launched under will pay for a social worker to former Mayor Kip Holden to prohelp identify low-risk parish jail mote health lifestyles—is workinmates who can be released ing on a website that would list into treatment, District Attorney the community’s mental health Moore says. They will be tracked resources, so health care profesto see if they reoffend. While the sionals can refer consumers to project may only be able to help a the right places. Dr. Tynes says small portion of those who could having a health care “dashboard,” benefit, it could be expanded updated daily with new inforif it’s successful and funding is mation about available beds and available. other resources, was incredibly Moore says a lot of people are valuable after Hurricane Katrina, doing good work in the mental adding something similar would health field. But like almost evbe helpful in Baton Rouge today. eryone interviewed for this story, The Bridge Center project, or he says there should be more colsomething like it, might still be laboration. For example, when needed, but it’s never going to someone with mental health iscure all the region’s mental health sues gets out of jail, judges and ills. And if the project dies, that district attorneys would like to only makes the broader conversaknow if that person is getting tion more urgent. help and whether they’re getting “I think all of the different probetter. viders have pieces of the contin“HowDate: can you connectTHC every-Ad proof uum Issue 4-11-17 #4that they’re working on,” body together?” he wonders. “Do Kasofsky • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. says. “It’s important now • ADeven WILL RUN AS IS unless final revisions to pull everyone back together.” we know eachapproval other,orand are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

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TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

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OUR COLLECTIVE STATE OF MIND FOR THE PAST three years, Mental Health America has released an annual State of Mental Health Report, which ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on several mental health and access measures. The nonprofit says the 2016 report shows a nation “that is indeed more insured, but still falling dramatically short in meeting the needs of those with mental health concerns.” Over 40 million Americans are dealing with a mental health concern—more than the populations of New York and Florida combined, the report says. It also finds there are over 1.2 million people currently residing in prisons or jails with a mental health condition, and lack of access to mental health care is linked with higher rates of incarceration. “Once again, our report shows that too many Americans are suffering, and far too many are not receiving the treatment they need to live healthy and productive lives,” says MHA President and CEO Paul Gionfriddo. “Mental illness touches everyone. We must improve access to care and treatments, and we need to put a premium on early identification and early intervention for everyone with mental health concerns.” MHA looked at 13 different measures to come up with each state’s overall ranking. In general, states that rank in the top 10 tend to be in the Northeast and Midwest, while most states that rank in the bottom 10 are in the South and West. Here’s where Louisiana ranks overall and in some individual measures.

37th

32nd

Louisiana’s adult mental health ranking, which accounts for the share of adult population with any mental illness (including a measure of those who are not treated, undertreated or uninsured); dependence or abuse of drugs and/or alcohol; serious thoughts of suicide; and those with a disability who are not able to see a doctor due to costs.

Louisiana’s youth mental health ranking, which accounts for the share of youths with at least one major depressive episode (including a measure of those who are not treated, undertreated or uninsured); dependence or abuse of drugs and/ or alcohol; and children with private insurance that does not cover mental or emotional problems.

32nd

50th

The prevalence ranking in Louisiana, which indicates how many people in the state have a mental health or substance abuse problem. In this category, the No. 1 state—Georgia—has the lowest prevalence. Oregon is ranked No. 51, indicating the highest rate.

Overall ranking compared to other poor outcomes. Only Virginia is ranked as being worse off than Louisiana when it comes to high prevalence of mental illness and low rates of access to care.

39th

43rd

The access to care ranking in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s overall ranking.

SOURCE: 2016 State of Mental Health in America, Mental Health America

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PLANNING

Retaining the lesson PAUL KIRK, vice president of information systems at Woman’s Hospital, refers to last August’s flood as the “unnamed event.” By not being a named storm, at least in the beginning, the Great Flood of 2016 managed to catch some Baton Rouge hospitals off guard despite having well-established emergency response plans in place. Across the Baton Rouge area medical community, an estimated 30% of hospital staff members were displaced by the flood and unable to get to work in the days that followed. At some medical centers, that number was even higher. In effect, those providing care to the flood victims were victims themselves. At Woman’s Hospital, some 500 employees were impacted. “Nobody ever named it and nobody ever said there was an event until after there was three feet of water in houses,” says Kirk, who also oversees emergency response at the hospital. “It caught a lot of people flat-footed.” As a result, some area hospital incident command systems weren’t mobilized as early as they could have been, thereby slowing the reaction time. “There are things that typically trigger a mobilization, such as a certain number of hours before landfall of a hurricane,” Kirk says. “In this case, we didn’t have anything to trigger the response.” To assess what went wrong— as well as what went right—hospitals in the Baton Rouge area conducted “after action” evaluations to identify problem areas and create plans for correcting issues. While most hospitals had well-established, precise emergency response plans, areas for improvement were quickly identified. “Unfortunately, that is the nature of disaster planning,” says Coletta Barrett, vice president of mission and incident commander at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center. “In Louisiana, we think of hurricanes A28

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

JASON COHEN

Baton Rouge area hospitals are even better prepared for the next natural disaster following the Great Flood of 2016. BY SAM BARNES

TAKING COMMAND: Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center officials recently launched the hospital’s incident command center to help manage the transition of inpatient electronic medical record and revenue cycle systems to an improved, standardized platform powered by software called Epic. The system will provide clinicians instant access to patient information across the continuum—from office and emergency room visits to surgery, inpatient and billing—and is another improvement that will help the hospital maintain operations throughout an incident like last August’s flood.

as the primary threat from a natural disaster. We have 120 hours to put our plans in place, and it becomes a checklist exercise. You get lulled into thinking, ‘We’ve got this,’ then suddenly you have to respond in an hour or two.” OLOL did a similar post-flood assessment, but found few weak links in its response plan thanks to lessons learned from the ice storms of a couple of years ago. “I would say that all hospitals around Baton Rouge were very surprised by the ice storms and learned a lot,” Barrett says. “That is not something that we deal with very often. We all learned to start watching The Weather Channel a lot more. That is why we test our plans routinely in hospitals. We collectively test our response. Unfortunately for all of us, we have been tested a lot more this past year.” By most measures, the emergency response plans for area hospitals worked as intended. All hospital systems fall under the

umbrella of the National Incident Management System, overseen by FEMA, and are organized by regions. Communication between the hospitals and the emergency response team are facilitated by designated regional liaisons, and in turn each hospital’s own incident commander ensures that response actions are executed properly. During the flood, delayed activation of emergency response measures was the biggest problem. “We’ve got to try to be a little bit more proactive and get ahead of it,” says Kirk, adding Woman’s Hospital is no longer going to wait for the state to make an official emergency declaration. “We’re going to watch the weather more closely and go ahead and activate a simple HICS shell structure. While we won’t have the whole group there, we’ll have the resources to quickly access them if needed and not wait to see what’s going to happen.

Obviously, it caught everyone off guard. We thought we had more time when there wasn’t.” Dr. Robert Kenney, Baton Rouge General Medical Center’s vice president of medical operations, says the flood also highlighted the need for facilities to better serve patients with chronic conditions. “It’s so vitally important that in situations like this that public accommodations are put in place for those with chronic illnesses,” he says. “During a crisis, hospitals have to remain available to handle the acute needs, so they can’t be choked with an influx of patients who have chronic needs. That is something that we must encourage in our public response, so that the hospitals can remain available to the most urgent needs.” Kenney and others plan to propose such a measure to the Louisiana Department of Health. Disrupted communications and limited transportation were

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“During previous events, we learned that no single hospital can handle things by themselves. We have to communicate and we have to collaborate if the community is going to be able to coordinate a disaster response like this.”

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DR. ROBERT KENNEY, vice president of medical operations, Baton Rouge General Medical Center

the top concerns for Woman’s Hospital, specifically, communicating with staff and providing transportation for employees and discharged patients. The hospital hopes to get both problems resolved before the beginning of this year’s hurricane season. “When the cell towers lose service and phone lines lose service because of the flooding, then you have a serious communications problem,” Kirk says. “We couldn’t communicate with our physicians or with our nursing or clinical staff about needs. While everyone learned to lean heavily on texting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina 12 years ago, the Great Flood of 2016 revealed that even texting isn’t always reliable.” That has left many looking for other options. “We have it in our budget to begin using the same cloud-based communications system the state uses, called Everbridge,” Kirk says. “It will send out a message in multiple formats, everything from a text to an SMS to an email, then will track who received it and they’ll respond back. We’ll be able to track who’s getting the information, and who’s not.” To overcome communication challenges, Baton Rouge General created a closed Facebook account for its employees. “It was a means of accounting for our employees and saying, ‘Hey, do you need help, are you safe, do you need shelter?’” says hospital spokeswoman Rebekah Johnson Maricelli. Transportation was another issue. Because ambulances were needed for emergency use, in many cases discharged patients with flooded cars and homes were left stranded. That’s when

the nursing staff at Woman’s Hospital came up with a very 21st century idea. “They asked, ‘Why can’t we set up an account with Uber?’” Kirk says. “Subsequently, we set up an account, social services helps schedule it, and we pay for the patient to go home or to other accommodations.” Despite the hiccups, there were many things that Baton Rouge area hospitals did right following the flood, and Baton Rouge General’s Kenney says collaboration was key. “During previous events, we learned that no single hospital can handle things by themselves,” he says. “We have to communicate and we have to collaborate if the community is going to be able to coordinate a disaster response like this.” To that extent, Baton Rouge General did very well—in fact, it had so much food left over after the flood that it donated the surplus to the Salvation Army. OLOL’s Barrett says area hospitals have cultivated a “culture of preparedness” and are reaping the benefits. “No matter what the disaster, situation or issue, if you are an organization that has a culture of being prepared then you can scale to the situation,” she says. OLOL recently conducted a successful ramp-up of its incident command system as it transitioned to a new integrated electronic medical records system. “It was a huge endeavor,” Barrett says. “If you can’t transfer your patient from the emergency room to a bed in the unit because the systems are not talking to one another, it could have a significant impact. We were prepared, and it went very well.”

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TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

DIET

On the menu RESTAURANTS HAVE always been hubs for indulgence, but nationwide, they’re also feeling the pressure to offer healthier options for adults and children. According to the National Restaurant Association, natural ingredients, clean foods and legitimately healthy kids’ menus are among the hottest trends for 2017, sparking a growing number of restaurants to ponder how to capture health-conscious diners while also staying true to their brands. Rather than go it alone, some establishments—including slightly more than two dozen in East Baton Rouge Parish—are opting to earn seals-of-approval by third parties that signal a commitment to health and wellness, and point consumers to menu items that include less saturated fat, sodium and sugar. In early March, the Louisiana Restaurant Association and the Department of Health’s Well-Ahead Louisiana program announced a partnership to encourage restaurants to become “WellSpots,” a designation earned by offering a certain number of healthy options on menus, going smoke free and having staff trained to offer healthy menu options, among other benchmarks. Also involved in the project is Ochsner Health System’s nonprofit Eat Fit program, which is connecting its registered dietitians with restaurants interested in analyzing and improving the nutritional content of menu items. The service is offered at no charge to participating restaurants, says Eat Fit founder and registered dietitian Molly Kimble. Both programs are slowly gaining traction in the state. So far, about 70 restaurants statewide have become designated WellSpots, including about 25 in East Baton Rouge Parish. Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Restaurant is one of them. “I really want to build a footprint in clean-eating,” says Mestizo chef and owner Jim Urdiales. “I’m going to use this A30

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

BRIAN BAIAMONTE

Louisiana restaurants are being encouraged to earn healthy designations to fight obesity and attract new, health-conscious diners. BY MAGGIE HEYN RICHARDSON

“Restaurants have an amazing opportunity to help make Louisiana dishes healthier. The restaurant community has a strong desire to encourage healthy living through better eating.” MELISSA MARTIN, spokesperson, Well-Ahead Louisiana

extensively to build traction with new customers and continue to make adjustments to menu items that can be made healthier.” Urdiales spent the last few years adding nutrient-dense and vegetable-centric menu options to appeal to diners wary of the cheese-laden dishes that define most Mexican eateries. Urdiales believes that including a solid list of healthy dishes is an effective way to stand out in a crowded

field. He is also working with Eat Fit to obtain a nutritional analysis of about a dozen of his menu items, which he’ll be able to share with customers later this year. FOLLOWING THE MONEY Nationwide, consumers are eating out more than ever, spending more last year on eating and drinking out than they did at grocery stores, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Busy

families and millennials are relying on restaurants not just for dining out, but for take-away meals to eat at home. Restaurants across Louisiana expect to see $8.9 billion in sales by the end of 2017, according to the Louisiana Restaurant Association. With that kind of stake, restaurants could have a lot of sway in influencing the choices diners make, says Melissa Martin, Well-Ahead spokesperson and director of the Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “Restaurants have an amazing opportunity to help make Louisiana dishes healthier,” says Martin. “The restaurant community has a strong desire to encourage healthy living through better eating.” Martin is quick to point out that it’s not just salad eateries or health food stores earning the WellSpot designation, although the Salad Shop, Fresh Junkie and Whole Foods are among those that have done so. For example, Commander’s Palace, part of the old guard of Crescent City eateries, has achieved WellSpot designation. “Having testimonials and being able to show a restaurant like Commander’s is committed to this goes a long way in convincing other restaurants,” says Martin. “We want to help them understand that it’s only going to help, not hurt, them.” There are three levels of WellSpot designation. Restaurants that earn at least one will be included on the Well-Ahead website and promoted through WellAhead’s social media, earned media and paid advertising, says Martin. “We want to see consumers use our website and social media as a way to help make good consumer choices,” Martin says. “They can search the website by ZIP code.” THE BOTTOM LINE Martin acknowledges that while some restaurants may be hesitant

recruiting restaurants to help them earn their designation, says Kimble, adding restaurants are realizing that diners with healthy preferences can be powerful influencers in selecting where to eat. “I’ve heard one chef say he’s going for that ‘fourth diner,’ the person at the table who is looking for something healthy, and who often is the one choosing where to go,” she says. “If you have something for that person, you get the whole group.” Kimble says that Eat Fit’s intention is not to remove menu items or change top sellers. Rather, the program offers to target dishes that can be easily tweaked. “A lot of times, a restaurant already has options aimed at diners who want to eat healthy,” she says. “But frequently, those dishes aren’t as healthy as they think. We want to help get them the rest of the way there.”

DON KADAIR

to change their menu items, opting in is an investment in cultivating a positive image. Louisiana has held the nation’s highest overweight and obesity rates for several years running. The current obesity rate is 36.2% of the adult population. Moreover, the number of individuals with diabetes has risen to 13.9% of adults 18 and older. The disease costs the state $5.4 billion annually, according to the American Diabetes Association. “With these kinds of public health issues, sometimes you just do it because you know it’s the right thing to do,” Martin says. “Health is really everyone’s business, and it can and should have a place in all sorts of different policies.” The next step for the WellAhead program is for the staff to recruit restaurants and encourage them to participate. Similarly, Eat Fit representatives are actively

“I really want to build a footprint in clean-eating. I’m going to use this extensively to build traction with new customers and continue to make adjustments to menu items that can be made healthier.” JIM URDIALES, owner, Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine

BECOMING A WELLSPOT

MINDING THEIR MENUS

RESTAURANTS WITH WellSpot designation are split into three different levels—with the Level One designation being the most difficult to attain—based on how many health-conscious menu items and initiatives they have. Restaurants that have received designation through Ochsner’s Eat Fit, Partnership for a Healthier Southwest Louisiana or other approved partner organizations may use those designations as documentation for WellSpot designation. Here’s an at a glance look at what it takes to get designated in each level. Complete details can be found online at wellaheadla.com.

TWENTY-FIVE RESTAURANTS in East Baton Rouge Parish have obtained WellSpot designation from the Louisiana Restaurant Association and the Louisiana Department of Health. None have achieved Level One status, but 10 have a Level Two designation and 15 are designated as Level Three WellSpots.

LEVEL ONE • At least three healthy menu options (which includes grilled, baked or blackened lean meats or fish; raw, baked or steamed vegetables; whole grains; and fresh fruit) • Tobacco-free policy • All benchmarks met LEVEL TWO • At least three healthy menu options • Smoke-free policy • Five additional benchmarks of choice LEVEL THREE • At least three healthy menu options • Three additional benchmarks of choice BENCHMARKS OF CHOICE • Promotion of Louisiana Tobacco Quitline or another approved cessation service organization • Participation in the Louisiana Breastfeeding Coalition’s “Breastfeeding Welcome Here” campaign • Promotion of the Louisiana Department of Health’s “5-2-1-0 Let’s Geaux!” campaign • Promotion of self-assessment tools for prediabetes and hearth health among employees • Restaurant has staff trained to offer healthy

menu options • Offer at least three low sodium entree options (less than 800mg) • Offer healthy options on kids menu, including at least one non-fried protein, one steamed vegetable, and low-fat milk or water as the default beverage • Willing to accommodate for patrons’ dietary restrictions • At least one staff member trained in the ServSafe Allergens course and notation on the menu requesting patrons to inform servers about food allergies • Implementation of two or more of the following healthy practices: + Serve meals on 10-inch plates or smaller + Design children’s placemats/coloring pages with healthy messages + Serve all fruits and vegetables from locally grown sources + Have all side dishes default to healthy options + Offer a beverage size option of 16 ounces or less + Provide nutritional information of dishes or specialty drinks to patrons + Promote a healthy menu option as the daily special

LEVEL TWO CERTIFIED RESTAURANTS • Bergeron’s City Market (8200 Jefferson Highway) • Cocha (445 N. 6th St.) • Fresh Kitchen (two locations: 7474 Corporate Blvd., Suite 108; and 8201 Village Plaza Court, Suite 1-C) • Mestizo Louisiana Mexican Cuisine (2323 S. Acadian Thruway) • Nino’s Italian Restaurant (7512 Bluebonnet Blvd.) • Spotter’s Fast-Fit-Food (two locations: 7323 Florida Blvd., Suite 30A; and 521 Third St.) • The Big Squeezy (3043-B Perkins Road) • Whole Foods Market (7529 Corporate Blvd.) LEVEL THREE CERTIFIED RESTAURANTS • Another Broken Egg (two locations: 2531 Citiplace Court, Suite 100; and 9655 Perkins Road) • Caliente Mexican Craving (two locations: 14455 Wax Road and 1072 W. Lee Drive) • FreshJunkie (two locations: 501 Main St. and 303 North Blvd.) • Maxwell’s Market (three locations: 7620 Corporate Blvd., 6241 Perkins Road and 18135 E. Petroleum Drive) • MJ’s Café (672 Jefferson Highway) • Modern Meals (2921 Government St.) • Subway (two locations: 4520 S. Sherwood Forest Blvd. and 17732 Highland Road) • The Salad Shop (two locations: 11445 Coursey Blvd. and 3617 Perkins Road)

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

A31

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

MEDICAID

Under the knife?

BRIAN BAIAMONTE

Proponents of Healthy Louisiana tout insurance gains and cost savings from the Medicaid expansion in hopes of holding off cuts in the legislative session. BY MEGAN HERR

SINCE MEDICAID WAS expanded in Louisiana under the Affordable Care Act last July, more than 408,000 Louisianans have gained access to medical care, according to Gov. John Bel Edwards. That’s just one of many big, positive numbers the Democratic governor is touting at a time when the future of the ACA is in doubt and funding—both at the federal and state levels—is in limbo. Though champions of Medicaid expansion like the governor could cheer the failure of House Republicans to move an ACA repeal and replace plan forward in late March, there’s no question that significant changes to the act—and possible outright abolishment—are on the horizon. Meanwhile, supporters such as the Louisiana Association of Health Plans worry the program could take a funding hit in the legislative session that began on April 10. “From a budget standpoint, that is going to be the most A32

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

critical factor as we go into the next legislative session. … Because the governor and the Legislature said there will be no new taxes, the only way to balance the budget then is to offset with cuts or just find a way to do things differently,” says Jeff Drozda, CEO of LAHP, the state trade association for Louisiana’s health benefits industry. With lawmakers facing an estimated $400 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year that begins on July 1, cuts are going to have to be made somewhere in the budget, and health care spending is always at risk. If Healthy Louisiana—as the state’s program for Medicaid and LaCHIP recipients is known (formerly called Bayou Health until it was rebranded by the Edwards administration about a year ago)—loses any funding, Drozda says a few areas will likely suffer. “It would come in terms of services to the Healthy Louisiana

recipients and as well as decreased incentive payments and quality payments to the physicians,” he says. “We’ve committed to the governor and to the health secretary that we want to be part of the solution, so we just hope that it does not have to come to cutting services or provider payments.” In an effort to advocate for Healthy Louisiana and stave off cuts during the session, LAHP has launched an outreach effort highlighting the human and community impact it has in the state. The governor, meanwhile, is encouraging Louisianans to share personal stories about how their lives have been positively impacted by the Medicaid expansion via his website. The governor and state Department of Health also say $184 million has been saved by the Medicaid expansion—money that Edwards contends will help fund education, the TOPS college scholarship program and partner

hospitals across the state. Former state treasurer and Republican U.S. Sen. John Kennedy strongly disagrees. In fact, Kennedy penned an op-ed that he submitted to newspapers across the state in January, blaming Medicaid for everything from TOPS cuts to traffic jams in Baton Rouge. Kennedy says Louisiana’s Medicaid costs have increased by 81% in less than 10 years, while the amount of state taxpayer dollars spent has increased 94%. He adds spending on the program is “just going to grow and grow and grow until we’re slashing schoolteachers’ salaries just to sustain Medicaid.” “Do you know what’s even worse? Medicaid isn’t achieving the results it should,” reads his op-ed. “Our people aren’t getting appreciably better as a result of all the money taxpayers are spending.” Health Secretary Dr. Rebekah Gee issued a lengthy statement refuting virtually all of Kennedy’s claims, saying hospitals and other providers are benefitting by having fewer uninsured patients to treat. “One hospital reported that before expansion they had more than 12,500 uninsured patients come through their ER,” Gee says in her statement. “Several months after expansion, this same hospital stated they had one month in which every one of their patients had some type of health coverage. Just as our program is allowing greater access to primary care, hospitals in Louisiana say they are seeing similar results.” Roughly 35% of Louisiana’s population relies on the Medicaid program, on which the state is poised to spend about $11 billion on this budget year—about 69% of which comes from the federal government. Five managed care organizations offer private health plans for Healthy Louisiana, providing health care coverage and services to more than 1.4 million

recipients. The care is managed “Even as some people are losby the MCOs because the service ing jobs, we are still decreasing prior to Bayou Health, called feethe uninsured rate because of the for-service, was very costly to the Medicaid expansion,” he says. state, and because the managed Tuozzolo also points to recently care model has led to better care released figures from the state for members, Drozda says. that show more than 67,000 adults “With fee-for-service, there have received preventative health were no quality measures, there care or new patient services since were no outcome thresholds and the expansion, while about 1,400 there was a limit on how many have been diagnosed and treated times a recipient could see their for diabetes, and more than 3,600 primary care physician,” he says. for hypertension. Another 5,700 “Under Healthy Louisiana, there have patients have been screened is no limit on those physician for breast cancer due to the exvisits, so not only does managed pansion, with 74% being diagcare help improve outcomes but nosed, while roughly 5,900 have it also saved the state dollars.” received colon cancer screenings. While saving the “These statistics state money is part are, in essence, the of the overall goal of proof in the pudHealthy Louisiana, ding that this is not the program also just coverage,” says aims to improve Tuozzolo. “These access and quality are services proas well. vided. These are “We want every cancers avoided. dollar spent and These are peoevery policy to reple who are getflect the improveting preventative ment of health here care measures that in Louisiana, and to avoid not just the that end, make sure health conditions that all of our efforts but also the costs. are consistent with You have 60,000 priour mission, which mary care visits that is to create a healthwouldn’t have hapJEFF DROZDA, CEO, Louisiana ier Louisiana overpened without the Association of Health Plans all,” says Andrew expansion.” Tuozzolo, chief of staff at the Dr. Dawn Vick, a pediatrician Louisiana Department of Health. at Red Stick Pediatrics in Baton A Gallup report released earRouge, says she did not see a lier this year shows Louisiana is huge difference from the expanamong the top 10 states for resion with her patients as it afducing its uninsured rate over the fected adults more than children. last three years, thanks in large However, she has seen the impact part to the Medicaid expansion the program has had on families. under the ACA. The percentage “This should help promote a of Louisianans who do not have healthier home, which is good health insurance was nearly cut for everyone,” she says. “I bein half, from 21.7% in 2013 to lieve that the Healthy Louisiana 12.5% in 2016. program has allowed a more free “And that did not even take into market approach to finding the account the entire enrollment of best ways to meet the needs of the expansion,” Tuozzolo says. “I the patients and the providers think we’re going to end up having that take care of these patients. an even lower rate when they surWith multiple companies, both vey us again in the years to come. patients and providers have the It will just continue to drop.” freedom to find an insurance proTuozzolo says the decrease in gram that best meets their needs. the state’s uninsured rate is parThe insurance companies have ticularly impressive considering more flexibility to change poliit has come at a time when the cies, formularies and adminisstate’s economy has been hurt by trative support services than the the continued downturn in the oil single governmental payer system and gas industry. allowed.”

“We’ve committed to the governor and to the health secretary that we want to be part of the solution, so we just hope that it does not have to come to cutting services or provider payments.”

As an advocate for our policyholders, LAMMICO continually monitors and responds to legislative and judicial activity based on the best interests of our insureds. In the face of challenges to our Medical Malpractice Act and cap on damages, we only support changes to Louisiana’s medical professional liability system that do not increase the overall cost of malpractice coverage to our policyholders. At LAMMICO, it’s more than a little something extra.

Issue Date: 4-11-17 THC Ad proof #3

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A33

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

LISTMAKERS

Hospitals

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center 5000 Hennessy Blvd., Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 765-6565/ololrmc.com

K. Scott Wester Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System

834

1923

Baton Rouge General Medical Center 8585 Picardy Ave./3600 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809/70806 (225) 763-4000/(225) 387-7000/brgeneral.org

Edgardo Tenreiro Community-owned hospital

588

1900

North Oaks Medical Center 15790 Paul Vega, MD, Drive, Hammond 70403 (985) 345-2700/northoaks.org

Michele Sutton Hospital Service District No. 1 of Tangipahoa Parish

330

Woman's Hospital 100 Woman's Way, Baton Rouge 70817 (225) 927-1300/womans.org

Teri Fontenot Private nonprofit governed by community board of directors

Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge 17000 Medical Center Drive, Baton Rouge 70816 (225) 752-2470/ochsner.org

1960

168

1968

Eric McMillen, E. Edward Martin Ochsner Health System

150

1985

Lane Regional Medical Center 6300 Main St., Zachary 70791 (225) 658-4000/lanermc.org

Larry Meese Hospital Service District No. 1 of East Baton Rouge Parish

140

1960

St. Elizabeth Hospital 1125 W. La. 30, Gonzales 70737 (225) 647-5000/steh.com

Robert Burgess Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System

2000

Not all area hospitals are shown, only those inpatient, freestanding facilities with 78 beds or more. Information presented was provided upon request from company representatives, and Business Report assumes the data are accurate and truthful. Hospitals featured in Business Report's Listmakers must have at least one location or facility located in the nine-parish Capital Region, unless otherwise noted. If you would like your company to be considered for next yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s list, or if there are any corrections or additions, please email scrump@businessreport.com.

A34

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

Researched by Sierra Crump

DIALYSIS

OB-GYN

YEAR FOUNDED LOCALLY

BURN UNIT

NO. OF LICENSED BEDS

MRI/OPEN-CLOSED

ADMINISTRATOR/CEO OWNER

PSYCHIATRIC UNIT

FACILITY ADDRESS PHONE/WEBSITE

ONCOLOGY UNIT

EMERGENCY ROOM

CARDIAC CARE UNIT

PREV. RANK

PEDIATRIC ICU

INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Ranked by number of licensed beds.

Outpatient physical therapy clinics

Baton Rouge Physical Therapy - Lake 5222 Brittany Dr., Ste. A, Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 927-9185/brptlake.com

Seth Kaplan, Gus Gutierrez, Greg LeBlanc

7 1963

BROC - Physical Therapy and Hand Center(1) 8080 Bluebonnet Blvd., Ste. 110, Baton Rouge 70810 (225) 408-7990/ brortho.com

R. Bryan Griffith, Trey Williamson, Randall Alford

6 2001

Moreau Physical Therapy 3129 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 246-2076/moreaupt.com

Al Moreau III, Al Moreau Jr., Cristina Faucheux

10 1977

Baton Rouge General Medical Center 8585 Picardy Ave./3600 Florida Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809/70806 (225) 763-4000/(225) 387-7000/brgeneral.org

Edgardo Tenreiro

3 1900

Peak Performance Physical Therapy and Fitness 11320 Industriplex Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809 (225) 295-8183/peakphysicaltherapy.com

Chris Purvis, Fabian Roussel, Scott Dickie, Jason Greene

7 1999

North Oaks Outpatient Rehabilitation Services-Hammond 2101 Robin Ave., Hammond 70403 (985) 230-6160/northoaks.org

Mac Barrient

1 1988

Lewy Physical Therapy 8448 Siegen Lane, Baton Rouge 70810 (255) 767-8182/lewypt.com

Danny Lewy, Shannon Lewy

Sage Rehabilitation Hospital Outpatient Services 5238 Dijon Drive, Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 906-4097/sage-rehab.org

Linda Coulon

Woman's Center for Wellness 9637 Jefferson Hwy., Baton Rouge 70809 (225) 924-8300/womans.org

2 2001

1 2009

Teri Fontenot

1 1997

Central Physical Therapy 13111 Hooper Rd., Baton Rouge 70818 (225) 261-7094/centralptonline.com

Helen Balzli, Tom Coplin

1 1991

Dutch Physical Therapy 5627 Bankers Ave., Bldg. 1, Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 927-3000/dutchpt.com

Philippe Veeters, Mirjam Maassen

3 1994

Linx Physical Therapy & Wellness Center 1650 Lobdell Ave., Baton Rouge 70806 (225) 558-6081/linxpt.com

Marcy Linxwiler, Brian Linxwiler, Megan Lawley, Leslie Carlton, Melody Harper, Candace Mixon, Heather Landry

3 2006

The NeuroMedical Center Clinic 10101 Park Rowe Ave., Baton Rouge 70810 (225) 769-2200/theneuromedicalcenter.com

Nancy Kelly

3 1978

Baton Rouge Rehab Hospital 8595 United Plaza Blvd., Baton Rouge 70809 (225) 927-0567/brrehab.com

Trisha Guidry

1 2010

Go Physical Therapy 4715 Perkins Rd., Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 923-0110/go-physicaltherapy.com

Gloria Wall

3 2006

Downtown Physical Therapy 160 N. Eighth St., Baton Rouge 70802 (225) 383-5021/dtphysicaltherapy.com

Geoff Lejeune, Scott Larson

2 2000

Kleinpeter Physical Therapy 1219 Church St., Zachary 70791 (225) 658-7751/kleinpeterpt.com

Karl Kleinpeter, James LeBlanc

2 2000

North Oaks Outpatient Rehabilitation Services – Livingston 17199 Spring Ranch Rd., Livingston 70754 (225) 686-4850/northoaks.org/northoaks.tv

Mac Barrient

1 2011

Information presented was provided upon request by company representatives, and Business Report assumes the data are accurate and truthful. Not all area outpatient physical therapy clinics are shown, only those providing requested information with two or more local, licensed physical therapists. Outpatient physical therapy clinics featured in Business Report's Listmakers must have at least one location or facility located in the nineparish Capital Region, unless otherwise noted. If you would like your company to be considered for next year’s list, or if there are any corrections or additions, please email scrump@businessreport.com. (1) 2016 data. Clinic was unable to provide updated information at the time of publication.

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

CUSTOM ORTHOTICS/SPLINTS

NO. OF LOCATIONS YEAR FOUNDED

PEDIATRIC PT

NO. OF LOCAL, LICENSED PHYSICAL THERAPISTS

WOMEN'S HEALTH

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE(S)

CARDIO/PULMONARY

CLINIC ADDRESS PHONE/WEBSITE

AQUATIC THERAPY

PREV. RANK

ORTHOPEDIC

Ranked by number of local, licensed physical therapists.

Researched by Sierra Crump

Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

A35

schedule your colonoscopy Woman’s provides comfort in an uncomfortable situation. 4 Private room 4 Private bathroom 4 Quiet, discreet environment

Women Choose

womans.org/colonoscopy • 225-215-7983 Woman’s | 100 Woman’s Way | Baton Rouge, LA 70817

A36

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

LISTMAKERS

After-hours and urgent care clinics Ranked by number of licensed medical staff. PREV. RANK

CLINIC ADDRESS PHONE/WEBSITE

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE(S)

NO. OF LICENSED MEDICAL STAFF

NO. OF LOCATIONS YEAR FOUNDED

SERVICES

Lake After Hours Locations in Baton Rouge, Denham Springs, Hammond, Brusly, Central and Zachary Varies by location/lakeafterhours.com

Steven Sellars, Michael Whittington, Graham Tujague, Kevin DiBenedetto

10 1999

Ear or eye infections, fever, minor cuts that may need stitches, possible broken bones, severe sore throat, sprains and strains, vomiting/diarrhea, allergies and skin infections. Equipped with advanced technology such as digital X-ray and electronic medical records

Urgent Care Clinic-LSU Health Baton Rouge 5439 Airline Hwy., Baton Rouge 70805 (877) 578-8255/ololrmc.com

Laura Davis

2 2013

Minor illnesses and injury, minor cuts and sprains, fever, sore throats, colds and coughs. Primary care clinic, oncology services, outpatient infusion services and imaging services

Lake Urgent Care Locations in Prairieville, Galvez, St. Amant and Burnside Varies by location/lakeurgentcare.com

Glen Neal

4 2013

Ear or eye infections, fever, minor cuts that may need stitches, possible broken bones, severe sore throat, sprains and strains, vomiting/diarrhea, allergies and skin infections; Equipped with advanced technology such as digital X-ray and electronic medical records

FASTLane of Zachary 19900 Old Scenic Hwy., Ste. H & I, Zachary 70791 (225) 570-2618/fastlaneclinic.com

Larry Meese

1 2010

Urgent care, occupational medicine, DOT and non-DOT physicals and drug screens, and breath alcohol testing

Baton Rouge Clinic Urgent Care Center 7479 Perkins Rd., Baton Rouge 70808 (225) 246-9997/batonrougeclinic.com

Harold Brandt

1 2011

Sprains and broken bones, colds and flu, allergies, sinus infections, severe sore throats, bladder infections, cuts, stitches, bruises, pediatric care (ages three months and older) and skin infections

Lake After Hours Kids 12525 Perkins Road, Ste. B, Baton Rouge 70810 (225) 765-5437/lakeafterhourskids.com

Graham Tujague, Kevin DiBenedetto, Stephen Beasley

1 2010

Ochsner Health Center-Urgent Care 9001 Summa Ave., Baton Rouge 70809 (225) 761-5200/ochsner.org

Eric McMillen

4 2008

Incision and drainage, lacerations, sinusitis, dehydration, hypertension, rash, glucose issues and broken/sprained limbs

Issue Date: 4/11/17 THC Ad2 proof #3

Not all area after-hours and urgent care clinics are shown, only those providing requested information with 11 or more medical staff. Some clinics have more than one Baton Rouge area location. Information presented was provided upon request from company representatives, and Business Report assumes the data are accurate and truthful. After-hours clinics featured in Business Report's Listmakers must have at least one location or facility • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. located in the nine-parish Capital Region, unless otherwise noted. If you would like your company to be considered for next year’s list, or if there are any corrections or additions, please email scrump@businessreport.com.

Researched by Sierra Crump

• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

Shaun I. Accardo, MD

Specializing in Trauma & Musculoskeletal Oncology Baton Rouge Office

We are now OPEN in Livingston! 5000 O’Donovan Blvd., Suite 514 Walker, LA 70785 (225) 380-1312

8080 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge Monday – Friday: 5 pm to 10 pm Saturday: 10 am to 8 pm Sunday: 12 pm to 6 pm

CLINIC LOCATIONS: Baton Rouge (8080 Bluebonnet), Baton Rouge General Campus, Gonzales, Livingston OLOL Campus & Zachary THERAPY LOCATIONS: Baton Rouge – Bluebonnet, South Harrell’s Ferry Rd., & Traction (Burbank); Gonzales, Livingston & Zachary

Compassionate Care . . . Advanced Technologies . . . Specialized Healing For more information: (225) 924-2424 • www.brortho.com Daily-Report.com | BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017

A37

TRENDS IN HEALTH CARE

LISTMAKERS

Specialty hospitals Ranked by number of licensed beds. PREV. RANK

FACILITY ADDRESS PHONE/WEBSITE

ADMINISTRATOR/CEO OWNER

NO. OF LICENSED BEDS

YEAR FOUNDED LOCALLY

SPECIALTY SERVICES

AMG Specialty Hospital-Baton Rouge 8375 Florida Blvd., Denham Springs 70726 (225) 665-2664/amgbatonrouge.com

Sharon Faulkner AMG

2009

Long term acute care, IV antibiotics, telemetry, advanced wound care and rehabilitation

Promise Hospital of Baton Rouge-Main Campus(1) 5130 Mancuso Lane, Baton Rouge 70809 (225) 490-9600/promise-batonrouge.com

Kiley Cedotal Promise Healthcare

2003

Treatment of complex respiratory diagnosis, ventilator and trach weaning/management, intensive wound care program and longterm acute care

Promise Hospital of Baton Rouge-Ochsner Campus(1) 17000 Medical Center Drive, Third Floor, Baton Rouge 70809 (225) 236-5440/promise-batonrougeochsner.com

Bryan Day Promise Healthcare

2003

Complex respiratory diagnosis, ventilator and trach management/ weaning, intensive wound care program

Promise Hospital of Baton Rouge-Mid City Campus(1) 3600 Florida Blvd., Fourth Floor, Baton Rouge 70806 (225) 387-7770/promise-batonrougemidcity.com

Bryan Day Promise Healthcare

2003

Long-term acute care

The Spine Hospital of Louisiana at The NeuroMedical Center 10105 Park Rowe Circle, Baton Rouge 70810 (225) 763-9900/theneuromedicalcenter.com

Robert Blair, Dr. Horace Mitchell, Allison Doherty, Kim Pettijohn Physician-owned

2004

Spine surgery (laser, minimally invasive, complex), carpal tunnel surgery, pain management, radiology, migraine treatment, sleep studies and laboratory

Surgical Specialty Center of Baton Rouge 8080 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge 70810 (225) 408-8080/sscbr.com

Ann Lightfoot Heine Physician partnership with Our Lady of the Lake

2003

ENT, general surgery, orthopedic, pediatric surgery, urology, hand and foot surgery, and spine surgery

Champion Medical Center 7855 Howell Place Blvd., Baton Rouge 70807 (225) 228-2800/championbr.com

Laura Broadhurst Forge Health System of Dallas

2014

Spine surgery, orthopedic surgery, gastroenterology, general surgery, podiatry, breast reconstruction and interventional pain management

Not all area specialty hospitals are shown, only those providing requested information with 11 or more licensed beds. Information presented was provided upon request from company representatives, and Business Report assumes the data are accurate and truthful. Specialty hospitals featured in Business Report's Listmakers must have at least one location or facility located in the nine-parish Capital Region, unless otherwise noted. If you would like your company to be considered for next year’s list, or if there are any corrections or additions, please email scrump@businessreport.com. • Please respond by e-mail or fax with your approval or minor revisions. (1) 2016 data. Hospital was unable to update at the time of publication.

Issue Date: 4.11.17 THC Ad proof #2

• AD WILL RUN AS IS unless approval or final revisions are received by the close of business today. • Additional revisions must be requested and may be subject to production fees.

truly Exceptional place

scension Oaks is conveniently located in a quiet residential area of Gonzales just minutes away from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and numerous doctors’ offices. The warm and friendly atmosphere experienced here demonstrates how Ascension Oaks is earning an outstanding reputation …. a reputation based upon our belief that what counts most in a nursing facility is resident care. We are committed to providing you the very best in Quality Care and Superior Service.

Our Services

• Licensed nurses & certified nursing assistants (24 hours/7 days a week) • Religious services provided in our beautiful in-house chapel • In-House Nurse Practitioner • Arts & Crafts Center • Planned activities & social events • Physical, speech & occupational therapy provided in our rehabilitation & fitness gym

• Regular physician visits • Hospice and respite care • Private and semi private suites with kitchenettes available • Diets & meals monitored by a registered a dietician • Cinema • Beautifully landscaped grounds • Security for wandering residents • and more

225.644.6581 711 West Cornerview Road • Gonzales, Louisiana A38

BUSINESS REPORT, April 11, 2017 | BusinessReport.com

Researched by Sierra Crump

EVERY WORKER. EVERY INDUSTRY. EVERY TIME. Because that’s how workers’ comp is supposed to work – with an unwavering dedication to the businesses we support and the workers we serve.

Visit us online at lwcc.com or call 225-924-7788 to learn more.

WARNING: You May Experience INCREASED ACTIVITY LEVELS.

Services and treatments include: • Low back pain

• Headaches

• Kyphoplasties

• Neck pain

• Fibromyalgia

• Minimally invasive procedures

• Cancer pain

• Joint pain

• Limb pain

• Muscle spasticity

• Pain and Baclofen pump implants

• Abdominal pain

• Injections & nerve blocks

• Nerve stimulator implants

4580 Bluebonnet Blvd.

Suite B

Baton Rouge, LA 70809

www.interventionalpain.com

BARRETT JOHNSTON, M.D.

Founder, Interventional Pain Institute

225-769-3636