Louisiana Charity Hospital System Receives Exemption From State Hiring Freeze

The administration of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has granted an exemption to its government hiring freeze for vacant positions related to direct patient care at the state's Charity Hospital system, the governor's finance office said on Saturday, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports (Scott, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1/27). Jindal on Jan. 15 signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from hiring employees unless they are granted an exemption from the governor's division of administration.

Louisiana State University hospital officials said the hiring freeze would hinder Charity Hospital system's efforts to rebuild the public health care system in New Orleans by filling vacancies for more than 100 registered nurses and 200 other jobs. As of Jan. 17, the New Orleans Charity medical facility had 324 vacancies, including 109 positions for registered nurses.

The city's Charity Hospital closed after Hurricane Katrina, and the state-run hospital system is operating out of former Louisiana State University Hospital buildings and clinics. The hospital also plans to open two trailer clinics in two New Orleans communities within the next few weeks. Four additional trailer clinics will be ready in the next two months, but they will not open until staff is hired, according to Cathi Fontenot, medical director of the interim hospital in New Orleans. Charity Hospital officials say they are pursuing an expansion plan, as the patient load in New Orleans increased by 24% in the past six months and patients are waiting an average of 120 days for primary care appointments (Scott, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1/25).

State Commissioner of Administration Angele Davis sent a letter on Friday to LSU President John Lombardi granting him the authority to fill any vacant position related to direct patient care. It was not known on Saturday how many positions will be affected by the exemption.

However, Davis in the letter wrote that she still has "not received a single exemption request" from LSU, adding, "While I believe the exemption request process was designed to work simply and swiftly, and most likely would have been completed by now, the lack of a response from the system makes me concerned about our state's ability to continue to provide critical health care service needs." Charles Zewe, an LSU spokesperson, said the system will move quickly to fill vacant positions and will comply with Davis' request to provide timely reports on needed positions (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1/27).