Ochsner Health today cuts the ribbon on its new medical complex at Clearview Mall in Metairie. It is the type of healthcare-delivery that more hospital systems will be looking to set up into the future.
Public health advocates have been looking to decentralize healthcare away from hospitals and get it closer to where people live, says LSU Health New Orleans Professor of Health Policy Dr. Dean Smith.
"Certainly a national trend, and Louisiana fits within this," said Smith.
And the move to get more patients headed to satellite facilities is also part of a lesson learned from the coronavirus pandemic.
"You don't have people who have less-intensive care needs exposed to the big complex health system which is designed for people with intensive needs," Smith explained.
Another growing trend in health care is drug store companies offering more than just COVID boosters and annual flu shots.
"Also now, adding nurse practitioner and other services," said Smith.
Meanwhile, Smith says you can expect the trend of consolidation to continue. With Tulane's agreement with LCMC to manage its hospitals, nearly every hospital in metro New Orleans falls under one of two operators: Ochsner Health or LCMC.
Smith says there are two factors at play:
"The first is the consolidation of the health insurance market, with payers acquiring payers and trying to get market power over health systems," he said. That has led to hospital management groups to consolidate, giving them greater bargaining power when negotiating with insurance providers.
Smith says trying to figure which side started this trend is like trying to figure out if the chicken or the egg came first.