Katrina #8: Severe ER Shortages in New Orleans

Of all the national media outlets, National Public Radio has done the best job of covering the post-Katrina story. Today it has an excellent story about the crippled ERs of New Orleans. To wit: Katrina shut down so many facilities in the city that there is now a critical shortage of ER beds. The 4 existing hospital ERs are running at way over capacity, and any sudden spike in ER need (a flu epidemic, or Mardi Gras, for example) could mean disaster.

In a previous post I noted that 10 hospitals in the New Orleans area were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina. That includes 3 that I used to work at. Those 3 facilities are all owned by one company, Universal Health Services of King of Prussia, PA. Unfortunately, UHS has no intentions of refitting two of the facilities it owns at this time. The third it may open again in 5 years.A quick visit to the UHS website supports my impression that UHS intends to do nothing -- the page discussing the status of the facilities has not been updated since September.

Only 4 years ago, the three hospitals in New Orleans East were owned by three different organizations, but since then UHS came in and bought up all three, later closing one of the three as an acute care facility.

While it is understandable that UHS, as a for-profit company, would want to wait until it is assured of a steady income before re-investing millions in a ruined hospital, I think the patient load in the surviving ERs in the city strongly suggests that any reopened ER would be extremely busy. Hospitals are more than just profit centers, though. Anyone who owns a hospital license (and UHS has three) has a responsibility to its community to try to operate, especially after a major natural disaster, even if only on a limited basis.

But UHS is doing nothing, holding its cards, perhaps looking to sell out later when the value of its holdings go up, perhaps waiting until its truly profitable investments, like outpatient surgery and cath lab, can come back. Meanwhile New Orleanians suffer.

I think UHS has a responsibility to the city to either sell to anyone who will develop the hospitals now or to try to get some kind of temporary services going. But all it does is sit and sit. It has already laid off all of its staff, meaning any recovery effort is months away from even getting underway.

What a shame.

On a brighter note, I would like to wish Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart a happy 250^th birthday. In celebration, I will be listening to Wolfie all day in my office.