PLAQUEMINE, LA and BATON ROUGE, LA- Iberville Parish President J. Mitchell Ourso, Jr., the Iberville Parish Council and Ochsner Health System announce today the signing of a non-binding letter of intent to explore the development of a free standing emergency and ambulatory care center that will be part of Ochsner Health System. The center will provide residents with access to emergency care treatment and related ancillary services.
The facility will be constructed, owned and leased by Iberville Parish to Ochsner. Ochsner will provide healthcare services and be solely responsible for its medical operations clinically and financially.
Ourso approached Ochsner about providing services after preliminary information from a feasibility study on a new hospital facility showed that a hospital would not, at the present time, be financially viable in Iberville Parish. "It has become apparent that with Iberville's resident population and the proximity of hospitals in Baton Rouge, the Parish cannot build a hospital that will be solvent," Ourso said. "But, we can partner with a Baton Rouge healthcare provider and build a facility to give our residents emergency treatment and stabilization until they can be transferred to a hospital," Ourso said. "It is critical that we provide emergency treatment for our residents, and we are optimistic that this preliminary letter of intent will lead to a quality emergency facility here."
"We are very excited about entering the west bank community of Iberville Parish and look forward to working with Mr. Ourso and Parish leadership to develop and deliver ambulatory health care services for their residents and neighbors", said Mitch Wasden, Chief Executive Office of Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge.
Ourso said Ochsner has an outstanding reputation for delivering quality patient care in the many communities it serves throughout Louisiana.
The letter of intent is non-binding and extends through May 31, 2011, at which time the parties are required to have completed a mutually acceptable binding definitive agreement. Prior to the execution of the definitive agreement, Iberville Parish and Ochsner will come to agreement on the size of the facility to be built, the scope of services to be delivered, and the number of employees who will work at the facility. The Parish will also seek the approvals necessary for the allocation of funds made available through the Louisiana Office of Community Development - Disaster Recovery Unit for the expenditures of the needed property, construction of the facility and equipment to be leased to Ochsner.
Iberville Parish has been without a hospital facility since River West Medical Center closed in early 2009 following Hurricane Gustav in September 2008. The Parish has explored a variety of solutions to provide a facility to replace the services previously provided by the former hospital. "We have worked long and hard to explore all the options and come up with solid and sustainable healthcare, especially emergency healthcare, for our residents," Ourso said. "I am very pleased to be able to announce that tremendous progress is being made on this very ambitious and difficult goal."
Ochsner Health System, in addition to its Medical Center locations in Baton Rouge, owns and operates 7 acute care hospitals and provides physician, specialty and outpatient care at over 50 locations in Louisiana. Ochsner's Baton Rouge services include six local health centers and Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge, a full service acute care hospital located at I-12 and O'Neal Lane. Ochsner employs more than 1,000 locally, including nearly 100 physicians. Ochsner Baton Rouge is part of Ochsner Health System, southeast Louisiana's largest non-profit, academic, multi-specialty, healthcare delivery system.
Subscribe to the Ochsner Health System News RSS Feed
