Several sources are telling WWL-TV in New Orleans that Louisiana Children’s Medical Center—the nonprofit parent corporation that runs both the Children’s Hospital and Touro in the Crescent City—is in negotiations to run the local charity hospitals as well. One is the new $1.2 billion University Medical Center in Mid-City, and the other is the Interim LSU Public Hospital, better known as University. “Details are still being worked out for this complex public-private partnership. But questions remain,” WWL-TV reports. “Since the new billion-dollar hospital is public, can its board make this deal without putting it out to a public bidding process? Would the contract for the Louisiana Children’s Medical Center have to be approved by the Legislature? And how will this fit into the charge that the new hospital’s purpose is to support LSU and the training of future doctors and health care professionals?” Read a story from Daily Report on the possibility of the new University Medical Center being leased to a private operator here.
Today’s poll question: Do you think the state should lease the $1.2 billion University Medical Center to a private or nonprofit operator?
