Nola Reporter

LCMC Health and Tulane University today announced that the organizations have finalized their partnership, following approval from the Louisiana Department of Justice. Through this partnership, Tulane Medical Center, Lakeview Regional Medical Center and Tulane Lakeside Hospital will join LCMC Health.

This partnership brings wide-ranging benefits to New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana by expanding access to comprehensive and specialty care, advancing academic medicine, boosting innovation and training in the region, and providing investment and other benefits to the community.

“The shared vision between LCMC Health and Tulane University to provide unparalleled patient care and medical research advancements in Southeast Louisiana made this partnership a natural fit,” said LCMC Health CEO Greg Feirn. “As we integrate our operations, we are able to make locally-based decisions that best serve the comprehensive and specialty care needs of patients in our region.”

“Combining the best community healthcare with the latest advances in academic medicine will provide the best care for our families, friends and neighbors while helping to drive our region’s economy.” President Michael A. Fitts

All employees at the three HCA hospitals — Tulane Medical Center, Tulane Lakeside Hospital and Lakeview Regional Medical Center — will continue to have jobs under the partnership as well as new and expanded opportunities for growth and advancement. The combined organization will also mean more investment in groundbreaking research, innovative technology, and lifesaving treatments.

“I can’t overstate how important this partnership will be to improving healthcare and boosting medical research in our community,” said Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts. “Combining the best community healthcare with the latest advances in academic medicine will provide the best care for our families, friends and neighbors while helping to drive our region’s economy.”

Optimizing the Patient Experience

The integration of Tulane University’s facilities with LCMC Health will take place over the next 12-24 months. Operations at all facilities will continue as normal while LCMC Health and Tulane collaborate to ensure a seamless transition for patients, physicians and staff.

Over time, Tulane Medical Center will shift the majority of its services to East Jefferson General Hospital and University Medical Center New Orleans. This will create expanded opportunities for comprehensive, integrated care at facilities that can support new growth and provide an enhanced patient experience.

This approach will increase access to comprehensive care in downtown New Orleans and create expanded hubs for specialty care, innovation, and academic medicine in both Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

Investing in Louisiana

This partnership is part of Tulane University’s transformative commitment of $1 billion to Louisiana’s economy. This commitment will emphasize commercialization of research and entrepreneurship and include reimaging of the Charity Hospital and Tulane Medical Center buildings. Together these facilities will house a new nursing program, clinical research programs, educational space for students, an exponential increase in space dedicated to research, as well as graduate programs in public health, social work, and medicine. All told, these efforts will create an estimated 2,300 jobs in New Orleans and across Louisiana.

These jobs will come in areas across clinical, educational, and support departments, helping to attract and retain talent in the local community. Through this partnership, Tulane University’s new nursing program will help address the nursing shortage in Louisiana by expanding the pipeline of students entering the nursing field — making meaningful progress towards addressing the 2,475 unfilled full-time nursing positions projected in New Orleans by 2025.

For more information, please visit www.lcmchealth.org/extraordinarytogether.

Original source can be found here.