When Alton Ochsner and four colleagues opened New Orleans’ first multi-specialty group practice in 1942, they envisioned providing residents of the city with the highest quality medical care delivered with an unwavering attention to the needs of patients. They had a vision for a model of care that harnessed the expertise of a team of doctors to make sure patients received individualized, comprehensive care.

The history of Ochsner tells the fascinating story about how the five founders overcame opposition from the New Orleans medical community in the early years and later joined Ochsner Clinic to the Ochsner Foundation Hospital to become the standard for medical care in New Orleans and south Louisiana.

Ochsner Health Ochsner Health is an integrated healthcare system with a mission to Serve, Heal, Lead, Educate and Innovate. Celebrating more than 80 years of service, it leads nationally in cancer care, cardiology, neurosciences, liver and kidney transplants and pediatrics, among other areas. Ochsner is consistently named both the top hospital and top children’s hospital in Louisiana by U.S. News & World Report. The not-for-profit organization is inspiring healthier lives and stronger communities through its Healthy State by 2030 initiative, a bold and collaborative plan to realize a healthier Louisiana. Its focus is on preventing diseases and providing patient-centered care that is accessible, affordable, convenient and effective. Ochsner Health pioneers new treatments, deploys emerging technologies and performs groundbreaking research, including 4,000 patients enrolled in 685 clinical studies in 2022. It has more than 37,000 employees and over 4,700 employed and affiliated physicians in over 90 medical specialties and subspecialties. It operates 46 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Gulf South; and its cutting-edge Connected Health digital medicine program is caring for patients beyond its walls. In 2022, Ochsner Health treated more than 1.4 million people from every state and 62 countries. As Louisiana’s top healthcare educator of physicians, Ochsner Health and its partners educate thousands of healthcare professionals annually.

Ochsner’s history is also a spellbinding story of a healthcare system that continuously reaches out to the communities it serves, becoming to many the model for what a twenty-first-century healthcare system should be.

Visit the interactive timeline of Ochsner's history and view archival images.