The privatization deal struck for LSU’s Shreveport hospital has created management and financial tensions that threaten the health of the university’s nearby medical school, according to an outside review.
The Associated Press reports a consulting firm describes the current connection between the LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport and the research foundation running the state-owned hospital as “untenable,” saying it places the medical school “at risk financially and programmatically.”
ECG Management Consultants was hired by the health sciences center’s foundation to evaluate LSU’s medical training programs since the hospital privatization deal was struck nearly two years ago. The report was completed in November but had not been released publicly. The AP obtained a copy through a records request to Treasurer John Kennedy’s office, which received a presentation on the findings.
The report describes a lack of “collaborative partnership” between the health sciences center and the hospital management and says the current arrangement doesn’t “sufficiently recognize the value of the academic brand.”
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration turned over control of LSU’s Shreveport and Monroe hospitals to the Biomedical Research Foundation of Northwest Louisiana in October 2013 through a no-bid contract, part of a push to privatize the university-run hospital system.
The research foundation, which operates the hospitals as University Health, had never run a patient care facility. After the management transfer, tensions spilled into public view. Financial documents took nearly a year to complete, and LSU sent a collection letter demanding millions in payments during the dispute. The foundation accused LSU of mismanaging its clinics.
A spokesman for University Health says the hospital manager hadn’t seen the ECG report and couldn’t comment. Jindal spokesman Mike Reed praises the privatization deals as improving health care and cutting costs.
“LSU is committed to their long-term success, and we are confident the results of this audit will inform LSU’s decisions on the best approach to take to bolster and sustain LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport,” Reed says in a statement to The AP.
