Showing their stripes: A new initiative to hand out yard signs reading “LSU Bound” to incoming freshmen this year has been a hit, with the signs flying out the doors of recruitment events and popping up on social media posts. Linda Bonnin, LSU vice president for strategic communications, says about 4,000 of the 5,000 signs printed up for the initiative have gone up in the yards of incoming freshman students’ homes. And they’re not only popping up in yards across Baton Rouge and Louisiana, but in other states including Texas, Florida and California. LSU partnered on the initiative with the LSU Alumni Association, which is paying for the 18-by-24-inch signs, which come with a wire stand for display. Bonnin says the initiative has been such a hit that the university is planning to do it again next year. See a photo of one of the signs.
Valuing the invaluable: Family caregivers in Louisiana provided 615 million hours of care—worth an estimated $6.5 billion—to their parents, spouses, partners and other adult loved ones in 2013, according to a new AARP Public Policy Institute report released today. The total estimated economic value of uncompensated care provided by the nation’s family caregivers surpassed total Medicaid spending ($449 billion) and nearly equaled the annual sales ($469 billion) of the four largest U.S. tech companies combined (Apple, Hewlett Packard, IBM and Microsoft) in 2013, AARP says. In 2013, about 660,000 family caregivers in Louisiana helped another adult loved one carry out daily activities, such as bathing or dressing, preparing meals, administering medications, driving to doctor visits and paying bills. See the full report.
Lawyering up: The operator of LSU’s Shreveport hospital is suing a competitor, accusing it of violating federal antitrust laws and trying to take away its doctors and paying patients. The Associated Press reports the lawsuit was filed today by the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana, or BRF. It is an outgrowth of continuing tensions with LSU since the foundation took control of the university’s Shreveport and Monroe hospitals in 2013. BRF says plans to have LSU doctors working at Willis-Knighton Health System clinics will give Willis-Knighton a monopoly in the market, driving up health costs. Monroe-based insurance company Vantage Health Plan also joined the lawsuit, claiming Willis-Knighton has refused to offer the insurer reasonable contract terms. Willis-Knighton didn’t provide comment to the AP on the lawsuit, but it issued a statement saying it doesn’t respond to other health providers’ actions.
