New Orleans, La. -- The anticipated increase in the number of insured people because of health care reform is sure to impact local hospitals. But that is not all. The city's growing BioDistrict will be affected as well.
Drive down Tulane Avenue and you are bound to see the massive construction site. The new LSU teaching and research hospital is under construction. And now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Care Act, the resulting changes will be part of the new hospital's landscape.
"If patients who are currently uninsured become insured, there is a tendency for them to want to seek health care more often, and more readily," said Dr. Larry Hollier, LSU Health Sciences Center Chancellor.
The number of insured patients is expected to rise significantly by the time the new hospital is completed.
Dr. Hollier said as more of the insured come online in this area, the shortage of primary care physicians will become more glaring. It is a nationwide problem.
"I do anticipate an increase in demand for office visits with physicians, and I see an increased difficulty for patients to find the care that they want," Hollier further stated.
The Interim LSU Hospital, also known as University Hospital, serves many of the indigent in this area, and it is expected to feel some of the impact of the health care reform changes as the new hospital construction continues.
"LSU and our physicians have been taking care of many of the uninsured and Medicaid patients for a long time. We'll certainly continue to see our patients," said Hollier.
While Dr. Hollier does not expect the Interim LSU Hospital to experience a big drop in patients as more individuals get medical insurance, he said private hospitals will notice a big change.
"We're going to see fewer uninsured in the emergency rooms of the private hospitals," he said.
The new hospital is being built in the city's BioDistrict.
Jim McNamara is the President and CEO of the entity BioDistrict New Orleans."I think in the long run it will be a positive move for us," he told FOX 8. "You know, we're going to see the responsibility of the state, in terms of the dollars that it has to pay for the uninsured, actually be reduced."
The new hospital LSU is building is based on a business model which calls for the hospital to attract a large number of insured patients. The federal mandate that most people have health insurance could help to further that goal.
"If more of those patients have insurance then that is only a positive step for the bottom line, so we're anticipating that we will be busier with that," said Dr. Hollier.
And having more insured patients in the downtown area is seen as a plus for BioDistrict New Orleans. "Spin-off business for us," McNamara said.
Dr. Hollier said, with the shortage of primary care physicians, a lot of focus is on training more physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
McNamara said, because of the post-Katrina emphasis on opening more community clinics in the city, New Orleans is in better shape than other cities to handle the health care reforms.
Health care professionals inside a hospital room.
