Ochsner deal to takeover two north Louisiana safety net hospitals near completion

A deal for Ochsner Health System to take over operation of two north Louisiana safety net hospitals in partnership with LSU could be finalized in September, The Shreveport Times reports.

Matt Block, executive counsel for the administration of Gov. John Bel Edwards, updated lawmakers Friday on the status of the negotiations during a meeting of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in the Capitol.

“During the next six weeks or so we expect to get the deal completed,” Block said. “It’s a complicated arrangement, which is why it has taken so long to put together. But we’re close. I think we’ll get them done relatively soon.”

Block resisted lawmaker inquiries about details of the contracts “because we’re still in negotiations.”

He said the administration will present complete details to the committee once the agreements are completed. The deals don’t require the approval of the committee.

The potential deal has been almost unanimously hailed as a solution to bolster University Health hospitals in Monroe and Shreveport and the LSU medical school in Shreveport.

LSU President King Alexander has said he believes the partnership will not only preserve the hospitals and medical education, but also expand them to another level.

Ochsner, which is headquartered in New Orleans but offers services throughout the state, will take over the University Health hospitals in Monroe and Shreveport from BRF.

BRF secured the contract to operate the hospitals in 2013 as part of then Gov. Bobby Jindal’s privatization of the state’s charity hospital system.

At the time BRF was the only organization willing to take on the charity hospitals in Shreveport and Monroe, but its relationship with LSU was strained from the start, prompting both the university and the state to seek its removal for another partner.

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