Tagged: health care

The LSU System's top health care leader has been ousted from his role overseeing the university's network of public hospitals and clinics.

Fred Cerise had clashed with Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration over budget cuts that stripped hundreds of millions of dollars from the LSU safety net health care system.

Cerise's replacement was announced Friday by LSU with no explanation. But in an e-mail to The Associated Press, Cerise said he was notified a day earlier by LSU System President William Jenkins that, "I will no longer lead the LSU Health System."

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is asking for an attorney general's opinion about whether Gov. Bobby Jindal can close a state-run mental health facility in St. Tammany Parish without legislative approval.

Sen. Jack Donahue, a Republican from Mandeville, says closing Southeast Louisiana Hospital in a parish that has one of the state's highest suicide rates is unwise. He's pushing to keep the facility open.

The head of the LSU System, William Jenkins, says he's talking to private hospital leaders about ways to partner and keep the university-run hospitals open despite ongoing budget woes.

But he acknowledged Monday that with shrinking funding and large numbers of uninsured patients, LSU will have a lot of persuading to do.

Jenkins said LSU will need to bring in private health care facilities to operate some of the public hospitals, if all will be able to remain open.

Prosecutors say a Covington man has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in connection with a scheme in which he and his wife bilked a sleep clinic out of more than $800,000.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office said Thursday Boyd Leahy could face up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 1.

Boyd Leahy's guilty plea follows a guilty plea last week by his wife to one count of health care fraud.

Louisiana's health department has received approval to hire private companies to run state facilities in Hammond and Bossier City that care for the developmentally disabled.

The Civil Service Commission agreed to the plans Wednesday without objection.

Under the plans already backed by lawmakers, the state is turning over the operations of Northlake Supports and Services Center and Northwest Supports and Services Center to private contractors.

A New Orleans congressman is asking Gov. Bobby Jindal to reconsider his position against expanding Louisiana's Medicaid program, as allowed under the federal health care overhaul.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond sent the Republican governor a letter Monday saying as many as 400,000 Louisiana residents would be eligible to get insurance under the Medicaid expansion.

Richmond says low-income families wouldn't have a viable plan for getting coverage without the expansion, which covers adults up to 133 percent of the poverty level.