Hospital board names counsel, vice chairman

Hospital Service District 2 has a new vice chairman and a new attorney as it continues negotiations to bring new management to Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City.
The board of commissioners unanimously named Dr. Bill Cefalu as vice chairman at a special meeting Wednesday. The members also hired the Bourgeois Law LLC firm to serve as its legal counsel, giving attorney Bill Bourgeois a seat at the board’s table.
The board voted to name Chairman Heath Hoffpauir and Cefalu as spokesmen in the board’s negotiations with Ochsner Health System to take over management at Teche Regional.
The hospital has been operated under a 40-year lease with the district by LifePoint Health since 2005. LifePoint has announced that it’s pulling out of Louisiana, giving the hospital district the task of finding a replacement.
Ochsner was one of three health care companies contacted by the district about taking over management. The board announced last month that it would negotiate exclusively with Ochsner.
Ochsner operates a dozen clinics in and around the New Orleans area, including the flagship Ochsner Medical Center in Jefferson Parish, a 473-bed hospital
Hoffpauir spoke briefly about the Ochsner negotiations, saying the company has kept all its promises, even when keeping promises required effort. He said a draft of a release on the negotiations could be ready for the board’s regular meeting Dec. 5.
The board also formally accepted the resignation of Nicholas LaRocca, who resigned as the board’s legal counsel earlier this month, citing unspecified differences with the way the negotiations were being handled.
“I’ve been knowing him for years,” said board member Donald Stephens, “and he’s done an outstanding job.”
Bourgeois, of Morgan City, specializes in governmental and regulatory affairs and in health care law. He is a former president of the Louisiana Society of Hospital Attorneys.
The board noted that the 16th Judicial District Attorney’s Office would normally provide legal counsel for a public body, but the board feels the board requires specific expertise in health care law for what it called “critical and time-sensitive” negotiations.