Louisiana’s health care sector has historically been as one of the most poorly performing, at a high cost, and with a population health profile that is the worst in the nation. The financing encouraged the production of specialists and a density of hospital beds well above national norms. The near complete devastation of the health sector from Hurricane Katrina flooding in 2005 provided an unprecedented opportunity to redesign this poorly performing sector in to a model for rapid development of high quality,
affordable primary care with a strong role for community and a path for more rational workforce development. The initial seeds were planted by volunteer providers seeking to meet the immediate disaster needs of the population and laid the philosophical foundation for the new model of care. Through a mixture of grass roots efforts and cooperation and deliberate policy actions at the state and federal level, the redesign effort has seen tremendous success evolving it from one dominated by a single safety-net provider to 25 organizations working cooperatively in a community health network. Together they provide access to primary care and outpatient mental health services across neighborhoods in the New Orleans area and serve approximately 20% of the population or 175,000 people. Nearly half of those served are uninsured, working adults caught in the policy
gap of American health system financing. The new community health network provides not only better care than available prior to the Katrina flooding, but better care than the average American. This new community health network, grounded in the immediate disaster response, provides a critical foundation for a reinvented health sector for Louisiana. The payment and delivery innovations encourage team based care and a population approach that encourages value over volume. The presenter will provide an historical overview of the development of this innovative community health network since the disaster and give insight in to the key challenges and policy changes needed for this health care innovation success story to be replicated and sustained.