LSU hospital deals cost $52M less than expected

Louisiana spent $52 million less than was budgeted for Gov. Bobby Jindal’s privatization deals for the LSU hospitals that provide care to the uninsured in the recently ended fiscal year, according to data provided to The Associated Press by the state health department. Jindal’s health secretary, Kathy Kliebert, says the hospitals’ new managers are improving care while also running more efficient operations. “We feel really comfortable that they are managing their budgets, that their new cost structures that they’re setting in place are working, and at the same time we’re getting really good quality care,” Kliebert tells The AP. The Department of Health and Hospitals also says some of the reduced spending can be tied to a slower-than-expected restart of services that had been cut when LSU was operating the hospitals and their clinics. But lawmakers in areas with the privatization deals have raised concerns that some of the uninsured patients are going to other private hospitals in the region that aren’t getting reimbursed for the care. In response to an Associated Press request, DHH released updated financial data showing the hospital deals cost the state just over $1 billion in the fiscal year that ended June 30, paid with state and federal Medicaid dollars. Final accounting for the overall Medicaid program won’t be complete until October, so it won’t be clear until then if the health department has a surplus. Read the full story.