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Katrina physicians suing Louisiana over uncompensated care

Patient Financial Services Weekly Advisor, May 4, 2007

Physicians at West Jefferson Medical Center outside of New Orleans is suing the state of Louisiana for the uncompensated care they collective provided in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, reports the Associated Press (AP).

The lawsuit from 381 physicians seeks $100 million. The physicians claim that the state didn't reimburse them for treating uninsured patients after the hurricane shut down the state-funded Charity Hospital.

"This is severely straining our area emergency rooms, and the lack of proper outpatient care is harming these patients," K. Barton Farris, medical director of the Jefferson Parish hospital's laboratory, told the AP.

Farris estimated that about 30% of the patients the hospital admitted after Katrina were indigent and uninsured.

The state Department of Health Hospitals dedicated $120 million last year to help treat uninsured patients. But that funding goes to hospitals, not physicians' private practices.

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