The State Of Healthcare

August 28, 2006— -- Recovery remains way off for a New Orleans health care system washed away by floodwaters a year ago. Many doctors and nurses who helped evacuate patients are still there. Some still live in trailers. Many others have left. So many that there are severe shortages of health care workers.

For patients, that can mean waiting days -- or driving out of town -- to get treatment. And it could get worse before it gets better as hospitals consider cutting services this year. With living still hard in the city, state health officials fear even more health care workers will leave. Replacing them won't be easy, as life in New Orleans remains a tough sell for medical recruiters.

Even before Katrina, New Orleans health care needed an overhaul. The city was one of the unhealthiest in the United States. By destroying this old system, state and federal officials say, the floods have provided an unprecedented opportunity to build, from the ground up, a new system that can be a model for the rest of the nation. But it will be years before that ambitious goal can translate into better care for patients. In the meantime, the city's health care system remains in critical condition.

HOSPITALS

Before Katrina, there were six hospitals in Orleans Parish. Now there are just three. The state estimates a need of 240 more hospital beds. There is no longer a Level 1 trauma center in the city -- a problem compounded by the persistent crime problem.

Pre-Katrina, New Orleans had about 2,300 hospital beds available. As of 8/17/06, the number was below 500. In other words, 2 out of every 3 hospital beds are out of circulation

Generations of uninsured and underinsured relied on the state-run Charity Hospital for care. Charity (where about 200 patients and doctors were trapped in deplorable conditions during the storm) is now boarded up for good.

The state and federal government have agreed to build a $1.2 billion complex to pick up that slack, but it's not scheduled to open until 2011. In the meantime, the uninsured are overwhelming the city's for-profit hospitals.