The Health District

[dan326]

That's a good point Cajun. I wish the Mid City location could have all the things the other hospitals have since it will make everything north of a Florida Boulevard look even less attractive but it's good that OLOL will have the best emergency center yet.

[Antrell Williams]

So you are just mad for the sake of being mad?   There's very clearly multiple urgent care centers open right now in areas formerly served by EKL or BRG-MC and the capital region now has a larger, better equipped trauma center than it has ever seen before in its history.    In addition, there's about to be a Children's Hospital constructed in Baton Rouge that will serve a region with disproportionately high child cancer and obesity rates, and LSU has opened a satellite medical school with plans to open a full campus in the future.  

It sucks that BR General Mid-City closed, but unlike OLOL, it was never going to handle the trauma load that EKL did and it was never going to be as attractive for a training hospital.  

The reality is that you are upset that a hospital designed and built to serve the serious trauma needs for the entire metro area is located a distance away from BRGMC that lights and sirens can cover in 13 minutes and a helicopter can cover in 90 seconds.

Call it what you want. 

[Mr. Burnham]

‘Perkins Rowe’-like addition eyed for Bluebonnet site'
BY TED GRIGGS| [email protected]
Nov. 11, 2015; 3:09 p.m.

14 Comments

Baton Rouge General will turn its Mid City campus into a hub for seniors and patients with chronic illnesses, as well as those with mental health issues, under a plan revealed Wednesday.

The Bluebonnet hospital will become the centerpiece of a 142-acre development that will go beyond health care services and could include entertainment and lifestyle programs, President and CEO Mark Slyter said. There are 62 acres available for development at Bluebonnet, and the health system is talking to developers about the best options for those properties.

“Our vision is to create an environment that is health-focused and -centric, a walking environment that has the right healthy eating and cafes, health grocery stores or retail, that type of environment,” Slyter said. “Maybe multi-use space … something like that (Perkins Rowe).”

Meanwhile, Slyter emphasized that the Mid City location will remain open.

Slyter said a closure is one of three “myths” he wants to dispel. The others are that Ochsner Health System is buying Baton Rouge General and that BR General has made massive layoffs. The hospital did cut 50 to 60 positions, but that is a fraction of the health system’s 3,500 workers.

BATON ROUGE GENERAL DEVELOPED THE NEW MID CITY STRATEGY AFTER MORE THAN 18 MONTHS OF PLANNING AND TALKS WITH MORE THAN 5,000 PEOPLE, INCLUDING COMMUNITY MEMBERS AND ELECTED OFFICIALS. THE PLAN INCLUDES:
Expanding the behavioral health services wing. The hospital will add 19 beds — nearly doubling its accommodations — for patients age 50 and older with mental health issues, such as depression, bipolar disorder and dementia. The General also plans to add chemical dependency services and expand outpatient services at the Behavioral Wellness Center.

Establishing a Health Innovation Center, a pilot program to improve care for patients with complex health conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease. Services include pharmacy and nutritional counseling, health coaching and education, and primary care.

Expanding access at Mid City Medical Clinic, including care for walk-ins and weekend appointments. The clinic will feature a flat fee and reduced lab rates for the uninsured.

Turning the campus into more of a community destination, with meeting spaces, dining and catering, retail shopping, wellness and education.

A telehealth pilot project that will allow patients to visit with doctors and other providers via computer or mobile devices.

Other services at the Mid City campus include cancer treatment, rehabilitation, skilled nursing commonly found in nursing homes, hospice care, sleep medicine, and clinical/graduate medical education.

The shift to a chronic-care focus places Mid City on the leading edge of a rapidly changing health payment model — from an emphasis on in-patient, fee-for-service care to paying providers to keep patients healthier and out of the hospital.

Dr. Kenny Cole, chief clinical transformation officer, said patients with chronic conditions make up 20 percent to 30 percent of the population but account for 60 percent to 80 percent of health care spending.

And a lot of that spending is on complications from those chronic conditions, such as diabetics who have a stroke or develop kidney disease and need dialysis, or have a foot amputated, Cole said. All of those are very expensive complications.

If a care model can be designed to prevent those outcomes, everybody wins, he said. The Health Innovation Center will put together a team with a doctor; a nurse practitioner or physician assistant; nurses who serve as care managers/coordinators; and others who can help counsel patients to help change their eating and physical activities to improve their health.

The General will start with about 200 of its own employees, then expand the program to those of self-insured companies and to insurers’ programs, he said.

The new focus at the Mid City campus falls in line with options Slyter touched on earlier this year after the hospital closed its emergency room. The move angered area residents, community leaders and elected officials. In February, state Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb said closing the ER would “put the Capital City in a death zone.”

However, in a news release announcing the plans for Mid City, Dorsey-Colomb commended Baton Rouge General for working with the community.

“Our community is blessed to have an organization devoted to doing what’s right for the people who live here,” she said.

The work that’s taken place over the past two years will preserve care for Mid City and all of Baton Rouge, Dorsey-Colomb said.

Meanwhile, Baton Rouge General is still trying to figure out what to put in the unoccupied half of the 800,000-square-foot Mid City facility. Slyter said the health system is looking outside of health care. Some possibilities include meeting space, dining and catering, retail, and wellness and education.

The plans for the developing the Bluebonnet campus are a little more concrete. They include moving the Regional Burn Center there from Mid City and expanding it. The work will involve adding three floors on top of the Bluebonnet emergency department at a cost $38 million to $40 million, Slyter said. Baton Rouge General hopes to raise half of that from public and private funds.

Slyter said the master plan includes a “Midway Boulevard” stretching from the as-yet-to-be-built Dijon Extension to Picardy Avenue, which would help reduce north-south traffic.

Baton Rouge General won’t develop the properties around the hospital itself but may invest in some of the developments, Slyter said. This would diversify the health system’s holdings, a plus given the uncertainty of returns in health care.

 

Follow Ted Griggs on Twitter, @tedgriggsbr.

Edited November 16, 2015 by mr. bernham

[greg225]

Four-lane of extension of Dijon Drive in Baton Rouge Health District being fast-tracked    

City-parish leaders and state transportation officials are fast-tracking a key road connector project that will extend Dijon Drive from Essen Lane to Bluebonnet Boulevard, creating access to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center’s planned Children’s Hospital, delineating the northern boundary of the proposed Baton Rouge Health District, and helping to alleviate congestion along Perkins Road and other thoroughfares in the area.

The nearly $23 million project, which will create a boulevard-style, four-lane Dijon Drive Extension, is currently in the preliminary design phase and also under environmental review by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

“We are doing this in a very expedited fashion,” DOTD Project Management Director Jeff Burst says. “We have a very aggressive schedule to get this done. Normally, a project of this magnitude would be a multi-year process.”

Even on an expedited schedule, the project won’t happen overnight. Burst estimates construction could begin in December 2017 with a mid-2019 completion date.

“We only got involved in this about five weeks ago,” he says. “We’re still in the preliminary design phase.”

OLOL is helping to drive the speed at which the project is taking place because of its new Children’s Hospital, which is set to break ground in December 2016 on a 60-acre tract parallel to Interstate 10 and between Essen and Bluebonnet. The hospital, as well as nearby Baton Rouge General Hospital, have together funded the $1 million worth of engineering and design work to get the project started. The two hospitals have also donated much of the vacant land on which the road will be built.

Additional property still needs to be acquired, however. The city-parish is putting up a large chunk of its share of federal highway dollars—$17 million—to acquire that right-of-way and also to help fund construction.

“These are federal dollars that were already coming to the city and Mayor Holden, in his vision for the Health District, wanted to put them towards this project,” says Chief Administrative Office William Daniel. “This road will really connect the hospitals. It will also relieve traffic and it completes another street in the major street plan so it’s a great project.”

DOTD is preparing to do a traffic study to determine the extent to which the extension will help alleviate congestion in the area. A later phase of the project calls for constructing a north-south roadway, called Midway Boulevard, that will link the Dijon Drive Extension to Picardy Avenue. Burst says that phase of the project could begin as soon as the Dijon Drive Extension is completed. Both of the new roadways are included in the long-term plan that Baton Rouge General officials released last week for the Bluebonnet campus.

“This has become one of the top priorities for the City of Baton Rouge and we are on board,” he says. “This is important. The hospital is coming and we need certain infrastructure in place so we are dedicated to assisting them.”   https://www.businessreport.com/article/four-lane-extension-dijon-drive-baton-rouge-health-district-fast-tracked

Three buildings on Essen sold for $2.65M    

The namesakes of Maestri-Murrell Real Estate have purchased the half-vacant Universal Plaza on Essen Lane for $2.65 million and are planning some major upgrades to the 45,000-square-foot property across from the Our Lady of the Lake campus in the planned Baton Rouge Health District.

As Odd Man Out LLC, Lawrence Maestri and George Murrell bought the three buildings in the plaza from Samir Elmoghrabi and Diana Elmograbi. The plaza, which is spread over 3.7 acres at  5207, 5211 and 5215 Essen Lane, had been listed for as much as $3 million.

Ransom Pipes, a broker for Maestri-Murrell who represented the buyers, says a lower price was able to be negotiated because of the capital improvements needed, such as an overhaul of common areas, replacement of lighting and signage, and landscaping improvements. Those projects are expected to begin in about 30 days and should take about 90 days to complete, he says.

About 55%, or 25,000 square feet, of the total space in the three buildings is vacant. One of the buildings is home to Patron’s Mexican Restaurant, which opened a few months ago in the space formerly occupied by Times Grill. Pipes says the Essen Lane location between Summa and Picardy avenues made it an attractive investment. He adds two potential tenants are eyeing the space, one of which is in the medical field.

“I think it was kind of an overlooked asset right there on Essen,” Pipes says.

The Health District is a project by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation to create a medical district in the Bluebonnet Boulevard-Essen Lane area that includes Baton Rouge General Medical Center’s Bluebonnet campus, OLOL and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

Burden Edmonds with Beau Box Commercial Real Estate represented the sellers.   https://www.businessreport.com/article/three-buildings-essen-sold-2-65m

[richyb83]

For a long time this was known as the Medical corridor...& over time that name grew on me...then FuturEBR came about; changing the name to "South Medical District"...some liked it ok...some did not; never really stuck with me.....BUT NOW  it's called  the "Health District".....wonder who came up with this new name?? Maybe this will stick better?

One day i am going to figure out how to change the titles on these threads LOL...

Technically The Neuro-Medical Center at Perkins Rowe & Surgery Specialty Center(Bluebonnet Blvd just S of Perkins) are not part of the District....but could be since it's on the fringe of the boundaries....

So it will be Dijon that is the new extension for the new Children's Hospital..need to sketch it up an aerial of the proposed 4-lane boulevard & the "Exact" route on Google Earth...good to see the enigmatic Midway Avenue is still in-play as a North-South connector for Dijon & Picardy Ave btwn Essen & Bluebonnet

 

 

[dan326]

Health District sounds nicer than South Medical District which to me implies there's another one in town. I think "Health" is supposed to invoke "healthy lifestyle" which is a major buzzword and marketing word.

[Mr. Burnham]

15 hours ago, dan326 said:

Health District sounds nicer than South Medical District which to me implies there's another one in town. I think "Health" is supposed to invoke "healthy lifestyle" which is a major buzzword and marketing word.

Louisiana Health and Medical District...that's a name. 

[greg225]

Our Lady of the Lake parent company to consolidate offices with purchase of Amedisys headquarters for $20M       

Amedisys has sold its Sherwood Forest Boulevard headquarters to the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System for $20 million.

The 110,000-square-foot facility and property in and around the headquarters will serve as the future home for some of the support services currently housed at Our Lady of the Lake’s Essen Lane campus, hospital spokeswoman Kelly Zimmerman says. The hospital will determine which support services will move during the next six to 12 months into the space that can hold about 600 health system employees. Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System is the parent company of OLOL, as well as four other hospitals in Bogalusa, Lafayette, Gonzales and Monroe.

Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System CEO John Finan says in a news release that the Sherwood Forest space “seems like an ideal fit for our needs” and ends the system’s lengthy search for administrative space in which to consolidate support services from its many locations in the greater Baton Rouge area.

“As ministry stewards we always want to reduce costs and improve efficiency, the opportunity to purchase this building allows us to significantly reduce the annual expenditure on our leased space and our teams can also focus on uninterrupted productivity that avoids future relocations,” Finan says.

The CEO also touts the building’s centralized location among the health system’s corporate office, the main hospital campus on Essen Lane, Our Lady of the Lake Livingston, St. Elizabeth Hospital in Gonzales and several other doctor’s offices.

Employees for the two companies will share the space for the next six months while Amedisys transitions its 400 employees to its new location in Suite A at 3854 American Way, Amedisys CEO Paul Kusserow says in the news release. He adds that space fits the company’s current and future needs.

Amedysis purchased the site, which had been a Schwegmann’s grocery store, for $4.2 million in 2005. The company spent several years and several million dollars renovating the facility, adding skylights and atriums to convert the building into an administrative space.

The sale comes after Amedisys announced plans in July to open a satellite office in Nashville and move its top 33 executives there. The company was founded in Baton Rouge in 1982 and has 13,000 employees in 34 states.    https://www.businessreport.com/article/lady-lake-parent-company-consolidate-offices-purchase-amedisys-headquarters-20m

[greg225]

Baton Rouge Health District master plan includes new roads, LSU medical school         

A new LSU medical school, new boulevard and a center dedicated to treating obesity and diabetes are among the proposals for the planned Baton Rouge Health District.

“This is truly a health and treatment plan,” said Baton Rouge General Medical Center President and CEO Mark Slyter. “Not just treating the sick, but addressing the health of future generations.”

Slyter joined several other local health care executives and Mayor Kip Holden at a press conference this afternoon to unveil the district master plan.

FuturEBR, the parish comprehensive plan approved unanimously by the Metro Council in 2011, calls for a medical district that promotes collaboration among the health care providers and researchers on Essen Lane, Bluebonnet Boulevard and Perkins Road. Participants hope to alleviate traffic congestion, improve health care services and increase the economic impact of the corridor. Such districts already are in place in Houston, Memphis, Buffalo and many other cities.

The master plan unveiled today proposes:

• A “midway boulevard” between Bluebonnet and Essen, including a rail underpass, connected to Perkins and Interstate 10.
• A Dijon Drive extension behind Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center that would run along the interstate and connect with Bluebonnet.
• A Kenilworth Boulevard extension that would allow motorists to bypass Essen to drive to Bluebonnet or I-10.
• Rerouting Picardy Drive to connect with Mall of Louisiana Boulevard and provide direct access to I-10.
• Frontage roads on both sides of I-10, an extension of Summa Avenue to connect with the rerouted Picardy, and rail underpasses at Brittany Drive, O’Donovan Drive and the planned Midway Boulevard.
• A new branch of LSU’s New Orleans medical campus to help meet an anticipated shortage of physicians and provide curricula not offered at the New Orleans or Shreveport LSU schools. The LSU Board of Supervisors has not yet approved the concept. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation says it is underwriting a feasibility and economic impact study for the proposed school—at LSU’s request—that will identify funding sources. Consulting firm Tripp Umbach is expected to produce the report by next summer. BRAF’s John Spain says the school could allow for dual enrollment programs, so a student might pursue, for example, a medical degree and a J.D. from the LSU Law Center at the same time.
• A Diabetes and Obesity Center to conduct research and provide nutrition and exercise advice, clinical services, healthy meals, a demonstration kitchen to teach healthy cooking, and instructions for using recent medical technology.
• Street guidelines that promote walking, biking and mass transit. Bicycle and car share programs, an intradistrict shuttle and a multimodal transit center also are envisioned.
• A landscape plan connecting Burden Museum and Gardens with existing green spaces and new parks.
• Mixed-use zoning policies that allow for the consolidation of irregular land parcels to accommodate mixed-use developments.

The FuturEBR implementation team asked BRAF to take the lead on the health district project. The foundation held public input meetings and spent $700,000 hiring consultants to develop the plan.

“Everybody we asked to be a part of it said ‘yes,’” Spain says.

The Baton Rouge Health District is a nonprofit that will coordinate efforts by health care providers, government officials, higher education institutions and others to implement the plan. Health care sector representatives oversee the district and are in the process of hiring an executive director, BRAF says.

Participants want to address transportation and land use issues to better accommodate current activities and future growth, hopefully creating a better quality of life for people who live and work in the district. Planners also hope to create “destination health care” for the community and region.

Holden said $23 million has been secured, primarily local dollars with help from the state, for the Dijon extension. Design work has begun, and construction bids are expected to go out next year.

Beyond that, funding has not been identified for health district projects. Spain says it is possible that the medical district also will be made a taxing district to provide a funding stream.

While the district is located in the Essen/Bluebonnet corridor, officials stressed that major providers located outside of the district also will collaborate in the effort, and that the entire region would benefit.

“It is truly a comprehensive plan to elevate and accelerate the health and well-being of the people in the Baton Rouge area, and also make a strong business case for why we should do this,” said Woman’s Hospital CEO Teri Fontenot.

More details, including the full master plan, can be found at the Baton Rouge Health District website.     https://www.businessreport.com/article/baton-rouge-health-district-master-plan-includes-new-roads-lsu-medical-school

[richyb83]

Going to be interesting seeing WHERE exactly these New proposed roads (Midway has been talked about for years) will go...the Midway Blvd I-10 Overpass connecting frontage roads should be a BIG help!

Sounds good...but how??

*For the North-south Midway Boulevard (btwn Essen & Bluebonnet)....Don't see how they go past Anselmo Lane next to R.R Tracks...Will they move the Electrical Substation ??  Otherwise there is no where else to go south of ....the new one-street subdivision(cant think of name?) is now blocking the route is would go on..unless the strip of Mrytle Bluff will be scraped?(have they started it?)..making for afflicted intersection at Anselmo...as it attempts to connect Perkins

*  Dijon Drive being extended to Bluebonnet?? How? Looks like the won't be able to "Squeeze" in btwn Hyatt Place hotel and Ralph & Kackoo's...if they indeed plan on connecting it to the 1st Mall  entry...or will they just demolish the restaurant??

The Picardy re-route will be interesting too..

The Health -loop bike/walking trail sounds cool!

 

Edited December 10, 2015 by richyb83

[dan326]

That'll definitely be interesting to see and much needed. I can't see them demolishing Ralph and Kacoos. Of course, they might and open up by the overpass or along the new frontage road.

[Mr. Burnham]

Here are the actual renderings from the Master Plan Document. They're big enough that if you download them, you can use them as a laptop/computer wallpaper:

 

 

[richyb83]

Like  all of those pics..Thanks for posting them MrBernham   Looks like they also viewed your street-grid proposal

BR General talked about a Perkins Rowe-like development recently...pretty cool how they would/could implement it into the area where is ample room in the large vacant green across the Mall of La...always knew that large chunk of real-estate has loads of potential!! Mentioned it here several times years back...there is not one tree on that property..it's screaming "Build Something SPECIAL on me"!

What do yall think of the north-south Brittany  Drive proposal?... with them creating small pocket-parks(open geeen space); with divided one-way lanes?

Walking/bike paths along the small waterways is where it's at!!  Buffalo Bayou in Houston; Cherry Creek in Denver & Brush Creek near the KC Plaza come to mind as the Gold Standard...

Edited December 12, 2015 by richyb83

[dan326]

Definitely neat! I'd love to see how they can turn Essen Lane into a "welcoming, tree lined boulevard".  !

Edited December 12, 2015 by dan326

[Mr. Burnham]

Completely agree with you guys, and yeah I guess they did look at my proposal 

I think this is even better! Would be fantastic!

[greg225]

Planning Commission gives nod to Baton Rouge Health District — proposal now heads to the Metro Council    

The proposed Baton Rouge Health District took a step forward Tuesday when the East Baton Rouge Parish Planning Commission recommended adopting the district into the city-parish’s comprehensive plan.

 

The parish Metro Council will have the final say on whether to make that happen. The health district would redevelop the Essen Lane/Perkins Road/Bluebonnet Boulevard corridor with the possible additions of new roads for north/south and east/west connections, as well as a possible diabetes and obesity center and even a four-year medical school.

The Planning Commission vote Tuesday was 7-3. A few members objected after questions were raised about forming a health district in south Baton Rouge when north Baton Rouge no longer has an emergency room.

“It makes a huge statement to residents in north Baton Rouge that the health care of citizens in south Baton Rouge is more important than the health care of citizens in north Baton Rouge,” said Gary Chambers, who publishes the commentary website TheRougeCollection.net and who spoke against approving the plan.

Planning Commissioner and Assistant Chief Administrative Officer John Price called it a fallacy to relate a lack of medical resources in north Baton Rouge to plans to bolster the hospitals in south Baton Rouge. Price said the infrastructure in south Baton Rouge is available to make the health district happen, and the city-parish should take advantage of it.

“The idea that you would deny this because of that, I don’t see the connection between the two,” Price said.

City-parish Planning Director Frank Duke said approval of the plan would not dedicate any dollars to bringing the health district to life. He said he is sympathetic to the plight of north Baton Rouge, but the health district for south Baton Rouge is an acknowledgement that hospitals in proximity to each other would work together to improve overall health care.

The three “no” votes came from Metro Councilwoman Tara Wicker and Planning Commissioners Gregory Ducote and Rossie Washington Jr. Wicker said she wanted more time to talk over the proposals, but she knew she would get to vote on them again at the Metro Council.

Duke, meanwhile, said he has already been invited to discuss the health district plan at the American Planning Association’s national conference in the spring. He acknowledged that north Baton Rouge is not well-represented in the city-parish’s Future BR master plan but said he is actively working to dedicate more attention to that part of the community.

The Baton Rouge Health District was unveiled in December. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation spearheaded the effort with a $700,000 plan, while a coalition of health care providers, government agencies and higher education institutions are also involved.

In other matters Tuesday, the Planning Commission:

Approved a revision to the plan for the Rouzan development, a vote developer Tommy Spinosa called “a significant step forward.” Spinosa said he wanted the change to make smaller lots in the traditional neighborhood development, which he said would appeal to broader segments of the population.

Some neighbors objected to the changes, but Spinosa said the plans for Rouzan would not increase the density or the number of units and would affect only the size of the lots and the neighborhood edge.

Approved two developments near the Goodwood subdivision.

One, called Overton Walk, will have 17 single-family homes south of Old Hammond Highway and east of Brentwood Drive. They will range from $400,000 to $800,000.

The other is called Township at Old Goodwood, and it will feature eight single-family homes east of Lobdell Avenue and north of Lasalle Avenue. Those prices range from $600,000 and to about $1 million.     http://theadvocate.com/news/14620782-123/planning-commission-gives-nod-to-baton-rouge-health-district-proposal-now-heads-to-the-metro-counci

Edited January 20, 2016 by greg225

[Mr. Burnham]

Getting closer...I'm so freaking excited about this. Finally! Something good for the cities long-term health...especially with the oil recession we're about to experience. 

[dan326]

Definitely a good thing. I look forward to seeing their revamp of Essen Lane.

I'm glad to see the other part of town is also getting something with the OLOL clinic being planned for Florida Blvd.

 

[greg225]

What will it take to make the Baton Rouge Health District happen?

 

 

(Rendering courtesy the Baton Rouge Area Foundation: The Baton Rouge Health District imagined.)

Some health care districts are greenfield real estate plays, built from the ground up.

East Baton Rouge Parish’s health care corridor already exists along Essen Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard. Members of the newly created Baton Rouge Health District hope to leverage what’s already there, to deliver better care and make the community more livable for patients, providers, researchers and residents.

“If you’re going to a place to be healthy, that place should be healthier than it is,” says Baton Rouge Area Foundation Executive Vice President John Spain.

The district’s arteries are clogged with traffic, so enhancing the street network, including the addition of a Midway Boulevard between Essen and Bluebonnet, is an important goal. But so far funding only has been secured (mostly through the city-parish Green Light Plan) for a Dijon Drive extension connecting the two major surface streets.

Planners hope to create a district where workers need to park just once a day. Bikeshare and carshare programs, district shuttles, and even an urban gondola could help people get around, and proposed street design guidelines could make the district more bike- and pedestrian-friendly.

(Rendering courtesy Baton Rouge Area Foundation) The Baton Rouge Health District

Feasibility studies are being conducted for two major possible initiatives. The first, a Diabetes and Obesity Center focused on primary and preventive care, likely would be housed at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, which already performs world-class chronic disease research.

The second, a proposed four-year LSU medical school, could be controversial. Virtually all of the best-known medical districts around the country have a significant academic component. But the state has trouble paying for existing colleges and universities, and Louisiana already ranks a healthy 10th among states in the number of students enrolled in medical school per 100,000 population.

Still, with an aging population and more people getting insurance through the federal Affordable Care Act, some experts believe the United States is headed toward a physician shortage. A new branch of the LSU medical school paired with additional residency opportunities could lead to more doctors choosing to practice in Baton Rouge.

“We are careful in saying that this is a branch of the New Orleans medical school,” Spain says. “We don’t want to get into a political fight.”

The med school concept has not yet been reviewed by the Board of Supervisors. In theory the school would partner with other LSU colleges to create unique curricula not found on the main medical campuses in New Orleans and Shreveport.

The district is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center CEO Scott Wester says members will pay an executive director and possibly other staff for the first couple years. He didn’t give a budget amount, saying not all the agreements are finalized. He says Baton Rouge General will provide human resource support, and free office space will be provided by one of the members.

District leaders have formed a search committee to look for the executive director, who will help craft the governance and funding model. Wester hopes the committee will hire someone from the “very large list of potential candidates” by March or April.

“The goal is to really get the district to be self-supporting after 24 months or so,” Wester says. “That will be one of the tasks the new executive director will have.”

Funding sources for health districts can include tax increment financing, donations and grants, parking fees, taxes on district property owners, and revenue from clinical trials or other projects. Wester says there are no plans to ask for general fund tax dollars; instead, recurring funding would be generated within the district.

Members could pool their resources for ancillary and vendor-provided services, parking garages, and projects like the DOC. They would not collaborate on core health care services, so consumers shouldn’t fear a loss of competition, district supporters say.

Wester says most people don’t realize how much the various institutions already work together; for example, the Lake and Woman’s Hospital share blood services. He says sharing certain types of high-end testing could improve efficiency and reduce costs for patients.

Baton Rouge General President and CEO Mark Slyter says chronic care, post-acute care and disaster planning could be improved with more cooperation. District initiatives would “do nothing but improve the quality and access of services for our community,” he says.

“There is plenty of competition in this market, and that will continue,” Slyter says. “We’re talking about things where we can provide more collaboratively than we can competitively.”

 

 

The inspiration: A sample of case studies cited as models for possible Baton Rouge Health District projects.

Carle Illinois College of Medicine
Touted as the nation’s first engineering-based medical college, its graduates “will be uniquely equipped to transform healthcare.” Similarly in the Baton Rouge Health District, a new branch of the LSU Health Sciences Center medical school in New Orleans would collaborate with the LSU College of Engineering in hopes of finding new ways to merge technology with health care.

 

Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute
The cornerstone of Baylor Healthcare System’s Southern Sector Health Initiative seeks to “weave diabetes prevention into the fabric of the community.” The proposed Baton Rouge Diabetes and Obesity Center would work to improve outcomes and reduce costs; treating diabetes and obesity costs an estimated $1.5 billion a year in the Baton Rouge area.

 

Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University collaborate to produce new technologies, products and services. The BRHD plan says “Big Data” could help transform health care in two ways: Sharing information among providers that treat the same patients could lead to less duplication and better treatment. And a vast database of patient data, stripped of personal identification to protect privacy, could be mined for ways to improve health care delivery, disease management and prevention.

 

Dallas-Fort Worth post-acute care collaboration
Methodist Health System and Texas Health Resources—competing health systems—agreed to partner to improve post-acute care, which generally refers to care after the patient leaves the hospital. Post-acute care collaboration has been discussed by BRHD members.          https://www.businessreport.com/business/will-take-make-baton-rouge-health-district-happen

 

[richyb83]

This Health Science Park sounds cool at the giant waste-land parking lot along the thriving Bluebonnet Blvd corridor...when are the next residential units going up at the back of Perkins Rowe?? Maybe abt the time the get the Perkins-Picardy connector finally underway??

Medical complex still planned for development on Bluebonnet following investor group’s win over Swaggart

https://www.businessreport.com/article/medical-complex-set-development-bluebonnet-following-investor-groups-win-swaggart

 

 

[dan326]

Density is definitely good!

I'm sure I've said this several times before but I wish they could find a department store to put at Perkins Rowe like what was the original plan. Or fill it up with every restaurant Baton Rouge doesn't have.

[greg225]

Hopefully they add parking garages, apartments and medical office buildings in Mall of Louisiana parking lot.

Edited February 5, 2016 by greg225

[greg225]

Members of Baton Rouge Health District seek to reduce traffic congestion, establish medical school   

Baton Rouge’s health care corridor already exists along Essen Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard. And as Business Report details in a feature from its current issue, members of the newly created Baton Rouge Health District hope to leverage what’s there to deliver better care and make the community more livable for patients, providers, researchers and residents.

“If you’re going to a place to be healthy, that place should be healthier than it is,” says Baton Rouge Area Foundation Executive Vice President John Spain.

But what can be done to improve the corridor and really make the health district happen?

Traffic clogs the district’s arteries, so enhancing the street network is an important goal. So far, funding has been secured (mostly through the city-parish Green Light Plan) for a Dijon Drive extension connecting the two major surface streets.

Planners hope to create a district where workers need to park just once a day. Bikeshare and carshare programs, district shuttles, and even an urban gondola could help people get around, and proposed street design guidelines could make the district more bike- and pedestrian-friendly.

Feasibility studies also are being conducted for two major possible initiatives. The first, a Diabetes and Obesity Center focused on primary and preventive care, likely would be housed at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, which already performs world-class chronic disease research.

The second, a proposed four-year LSU medical school, could be controversial. Virtually all of the best-known medical districts around the country have a significant academic component. But the state has trouble paying for existing colleges and universities, and Louisiana already ranks a healthy 10th among states in the number of students enrolled in medical school per 100,000 population.

A new branch of the LSU medical school paired with additional residency opportunities could lead to more doctors choosing to practice in Baton Rouge.

“We are careful in saying that this is a branch of the New Orleans medical school,” Spain says. “We don’t want to get into a political fight.”

Read the full story     https://www.businessreport.com/article/members-baton-rouge-health-district-seek-reduce-traffic-congestion-establish-medical-school

[greg225]

Long-awaited OLOL Children’s Hospital to break ground Thursday   

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center will break ground Thursday morning on its long-awaited 350,000-square-foot Children’s Hospital, a 130-bed, state-of-the art facility that promises to attract top-flight specialists and residents to the area.

The hospital and an adjacent medical office building will be located on a 66-acre tract of hospital-owned property that runs parallel to Interstate 10 between Essen Lane and Bluebonnet Boulevard. The 95,000-square-foot office building will be four stories and will be connected to the hospital via a second-floor walkway.

“Physicians who only care for children prefer to come to a freestanding environment,” says OLOL Chief Operating Officer Terrie Sterling. “So if we want to attract physicians to Baton Rouge that we have not had in the past, the freestanding hospital and medical office building are important components of that.”

The hospital will include a dedicated emergency department with 21 beds and four triage rooms, advanced imaging with CT scanning and MRI, and a dedicated floor for inpatient and outpatient pediatric cancer treatment. OLOL Children’s Hospital will be the only St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital affiliate in the state.

The facility also will include a 30-bed pediatric intensive care unit, designated family areas on each floor, a large garden, a dining room with outdoor seating, and a family resource center to provide information to patients and families.

The estimated project cost for both the hospital and medical office building is $230 million. So far, OLOL has raised about $32 million, more than half of its $50 million goal. The hospital will finance the balance of the project through debt and savings.

“But fundraising will not stop once we reach our goal,” says hospital spokeswoman Kelly Zimmerman. “Ongoing philanthropy will be important to support programs in the future.”

Construction is expected to take about two and a half years, and the hospital is scheduled to open in fall 2018. Initially, 80 of the 130 beds will be open, but hospital officials expect volume to increase rapidly, especially as the facility attracts more specialists to the area.

“Having the freestanding hospital and medical office building attracts specialists, and having good faculty attracts residents,” says Dr. Shaun Kemmerly, OLOL Children’s Hospital Chief Medical Officer. “Residents will also choose to practice near where they train, so this will be adding pediatricians to our state, which will help improve the access issues our state currently struggles with. Ultimately, this will help elevate access to health care for children in the state of Louisiana.”

See renderings of the hospital and medical building here and here.  https://www.businessreport.com/article/long-awaited-olol-childrens-hospital-break-ground-thursday    

Edited February 16, 2016 by greg225

[richyb83]

Driving on I-10 today...saw a large tent and some trucks setting up along the northern-edge of the property