Editor’s note: This story has been updated since original publication to note that St. Elizabeth Hospital also received an A rating from Leapfrog. A previous version stated the hospital received a B grade. Daily Report regrets the error.
Holiday break: The Christmas and New Year’s holidays continued to contribute to over-the-week decreases in initial unemployment claims in Louisiana, the state labor department says. Initial unemployment insurance claims for the week ending Dec. 31 decreased to 1,851 from the previous week’s total of 2,093. For the comparable week a year ago, 2,459 initial claims were filed. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure of claims, decreased to 2,361 from the previous week’s average of 2,676. Continued unemployment insurance weeks claimed for the week ending Dec. 31 decreased to 23,434 from the prior week’s total of 23,719. Continued weeks claimed were below the comparable figure of 24,659 for the week ending Jan. 2, 2016. See the full report.
Going up: Louisiana gained two oil and gas rigs this week, increasing the total of active rigs exploring for oil and gas in the state to 50, from 48 last week. According to Baker Hughes, a Houston-based oilfield services company, Louisiana had 59 rigs for the comparable week one year ago. The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. also increased, The Associated Press reports. Nationally, seven rigs went online this week, increasing the nation’s rig count to 665. A year ago, 664 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have curtailed exploration, although the rig count has been rebounding in recent weeks. There were 529 active oil rigs and 135 active natural gas rigs this week. The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981 and bottomed out in May at 404.
Top honors: Baton Rouge General Medical Center has received top honors in several health care categories from two organizations in recent months. Health care analytics firm CareChex rated Baton Rouge General first in overall medical care and heart failure care in Louisiana and No. 43 out of 3,800 hospitals in the country, BRG says in a news release. Also, Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit employer-sponsored organization, gave Baton Rouge General an A in its Hospital Safety Score program for the fifth year in a row. The grade was issued to 844 of 2,633 hospitals in the country. Ochsner Baton Rouge and St. Elizabeth Hospital also received an A rating from Leapfrog. Our Lady of The Lake Regional Medical Center and Lane Regional Medical Center received a B grade. The program reviews the outcomes and processes of more than 2,600 facilities across the country and generates a report card for each, with an A, B, C, D or F letter grade.
