Louisiana Launches Program To Attract Medical Professionals To Greater New Orleans Area

June 14, 2007 – 6:18 pm | posted in Aid / Disasters, Primary Care

The Greater New Orleans Health Service Corps, a program developed by Louisiana, is working to attract health care professionals to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 by offering financial incentives, including student loan repayment and income guarantees, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Since the hurricane, physician practices have flooded, some hospitals have closed and the number of uninsured residents has increased, according to the Times-Picayune.

To receive incentives, worth as much as $110,000, medical professionals must agree to practice in the area for at least three years and dedicate one-third of their practice to uninsured residents and Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries. Through a $15 million federal grant, 81 awards have been granted to primary care physicians, gynecologists, psychiatrists, dentists and several nurses and counselors, according to the Times-Picayune. The state said 54 additional primary care physicians need to be recruited to treat the uninsured.

HHS last month said it will provide an additional $35 million to the program, which the state said it will use to recruit nurses and pharmacists, along with physicians, dentists and medical school faculty.

Overcoming Challenges
Physicians “say the money helps to counteract the hardships of practicing in New Orleans,” according to the Times-Picayune. Some challenges for practicing in the area include: difficulty recruiting physicians to open private-practice clinics; the high cost of business and malpractice insurance; and a large number of uninsured patients.

Internist David Myers said that requiring physicians to dedicate one-third of their practice to the uninsured and Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries will discourage them from applying for the grants. He added that both insured and uninsured patients are having problems finding available physicians (Moran, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 6/11).

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