Journal Series Shows New Orleans’ Health Care System Recovering
The number of physicians per capita in the New Orleans region has exceeded the national average, a sign that medical professionals say indicates the area's health care system is recovering, according to a report published Friday in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The report finds that the number of physicians in Orleans, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes has increased from 239 doctors per 100,000 people in 2005 to 256 doctors per 100,000 people in 2007. The national average is 237 physicians per 100,000 people.
According to the Times-Picayune, a "series of articles in the journal ... paints a somewhat healthy picture of the New Orleans medical sector, highlighting the rebounding number of local doctors in addition to the recovery of" Louisiana State University and Tulane University medical schools.
Many of the returning physicians are primary care doctors who receive Greater New Orleans Service Corps grants to help them pay off student loan debt in exchange for working in the city for three years treating residents with little or no health insurance. The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals has received $39.2 million from the federal government since February 2007 to help recruit and retain medical professionals. Dory Tschudy of the state Bureau of Primary Care and Rural Health, which administers the program, said that more than $10.8 million has gone toward recruiting and retaining primary care physicians.
In addition, Marc Kahn, medical director of Tulane University School of Medicine, said that New Orleans also is attracting more medical students than ever before, with 8,300 applicants this year -- nearly 2,000 more applicants to the school than usually applied before Hurricane Katrina.
Karen DeSalvo, chief of internal medicine and geriatrics at Tulane and a lead author for the journal, cautioned that the city is in a crucial period for health care. DeSalvo said that although progress has been made, gaps in services for the uninsured remain, hospitals are in precarious financial situations and some specialists have been slow to return to the area. She said, "Without the safety-net system back to what it was before (Katrina), the system feels very broken," adding, "There's enough health care out there, but it's mismatched in terms of who can access it and what's available" (Evans, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 8/15).
