QUESTION: Hats off to the ladies in our housekeeping department! My family was recently subjected to the filthy environment of [another hospital's] ER and Patient rooms - whatever the problem there, (process problem, manpower issue, motivation issues ?), I could not say.... but it sure made me appreciate how our housekeeping department cleans the rooms here. That said, I felt "stuck", since [this other hospital] is the only general med/surg hospital "IN-NETWORK" with our insurance. Why is this, and is it possible to consider opening up our options?

ANSWER: Thank you so much for the feedback and the pat on the back for housekeeping.  Currently, OLOL and Ochsner Medical Center (the old Summit Hospital) are in-network hospitals.  For out-patient surgical services, our choices include Advanced Surgical Concepts, First Choice Surgery Center of Baton Rouge and Lake Surgery Center, Perkins Plaza. 

We are in the process of reviewing benefits plan changes for next year.  Part of this review includes evaluating provider networks to ensure that we have a wide array of providers available who agree to provide services at a reasonable cost.  Final evaluation of the network (including any provider changes) will be completed soon and announced in November.  Thanks again for the comments and we'll keep you posted on future provider changes.

QUESTION: Are you concerned about the employees and have you considered how far the new campus will be for us?

QUESTION: I have heard 2 different answers to this question. Do we need to have majority support of the physicians in the tower to move? The answers have been "We CANNOT move without their support" and the other is: "We are moving with or without their support"

ANSWER: It's a difficult question which is why you may be hearing different answers. Physicians have been and will continue to be critical to the success of Woman’s Hospital.  As more physicians are getting involved in the new campus project and we continue to identify opportunities to ensure that the move is positive for physicians and their patients, the more support the overall project gains.

At the moment, some physicians are very supportive; others are unsure how it will affect them.  Most of the physicians with offices in the Tower need more space, but they are concerned about the increased costs of relocating.  Many of the physicians aren't familiar with our patient satisfaction issues, so they are not aware of the need for the changes that would be so vital to this community. 

Our mission is to improve the health of women and infants, and so our outlook when making these decisions is in terms of decades - what will be best for our patients twenty or thirty years from now?  We have a large responsibility to ensure that future generations of women have a facility tailored to their needs.  We are working diligently to provide the physicians with the information they need to understand why we are interested in building a new campus, and to align them more closely with our strategy.

QUESTION: WHY IS IT ALWAYS ABOUT PATIENTS...ALSO, I WAS TOLD - SURE WE WILL LOSE PATIENTS BUT WE WILL PICK UP PRAIRIEVILLE AND GONZALES, DON'T THEY ALREADY COME HERE?

ANSWER: Of course much of the reasoning for a new campus is related to our patients and our ability to provide excellent care.  Even yesterday, a notice was sent to all employees to let them know that we are utilizing rooms in the Special Care Unit (AICU) for Mother/Baby couplet care.  These Mother/Baby patients, although they are being cared for by mother/baby nurses, do not have a full bathroom.  They actually have a toilet in their room where they have to pull a curtain around themselves - no bath and no direct phone line.

These are not conditions that any patient would consider ideal or that we, as a premier facility for women and infants, should find appropriate.

Also, the purpose of the move is not to change who we are caring for but how we are caring for our patients.  We want to provide all patients access to the best possible care in the best possible environment that is conducive to healing.