Lawmaker threatens to pull Chabert center from LSU system

With Houma’s charity hospital facing state budget cuts and staff layoffs, a lawmaker is talking about pulling the facility out of the LSU hospital system and establishing a local hospital service district. The district, proposed by state Rep. Joe Harrison of Napoleonville, would put the Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center in a group with all of the area’s major hospitals, including Terrebonne General Medical Center and Thibodaux Regional Medical Center. Area hospital leaders say they have not yet met with lawmakers to discuss any such plan, according to The (Houma) Courier. Chabert administrator Rhonda Green says she does not know enough details about the proposal to comment. Notice of impending layoffs was sent to employees of Chabert and other hospitals last month, after the LSU hospital system announced it would have to make a $29 million midyear budget cut before March. It is unclear how much money will be cut from Chabert’s budget or how many people will be laid off. Hospital officials say Chabert has already cut its services to the bone and that layoffs and other measures that would affect patient care are inevitable. Local lawmakers have been brainstorming ways to help protect Chabert from continued cuts that they fear could cripple its ability to provide indigent-care services.