Lawmakers pushed back the vote to finalize the deal to move the University’s medical program to Our Lady of the Lake Hospital by 2014.The vote was scheduled to take place Friday, Feb. 5, but members of the legislature said they were uncertain about some of the details of the public-private partnership.”Lawmakers need more time to examine the facts,” said Marvin McGraw, LSU Medical Health Care Services director of media relations.The vote is now scheduled to take place in March.”Legislature will be examining financial details between now and the joint budget committee next month,” McGraw said.The agreement would move the University’s graduate medical education program and in-patient hospital from Earl K. Long Medical Center to OLOL.Before the merge, OLOL will undergo construction to add 60 beds for an increase in patient load.OLOL will add a Level One Trauma Center with a medical education building it would donate to the University.The Level One Trauma Center will be capable of handling the most severe medical emergencies, McGraw said.The Earl K. Long Medical Center will close in 2014. The medical center’s run-down state caused accreditation problems in the past.The University will construct an urgent care center in north Baton Rouge near the Earl K. Long Medical Center.It will also make renovations to the Perkins Road surgery center and mid-city location.The delay in voting is “not entirely unexpected,” McGraw said.”It is unreasonable to ask legislators to sign off on such a complex issue in such a short time,” McGraw said.—-Contact Grace Montgomery at [email protected]
Teaching hospital vote delayed
February 19, 2010