Hospital board: Two more weeks of talks to bring OB back to Ochsner St. Mary

The Hospital Service District No. 2 board says it will allow two more weeks for talks aimed at bringing labor and delivery back to Ochsner St. Mary in Morgan City. If there is no agreement with Ochsner Health by then, the board said in a news release, it will remove two related tax propositions from the Oct. 14 ballot.

Ochsner, which operates the hospital under lease with the hospital district, announced in March that it would end nonemergency obstetrical care at Ochsner St. Mary on April 1 as the health care giant consolidates its Bayou Region labor and delivery services at Ochsner St. Anne in Raceland.

“Since initial discussions in March, the HSD 2 board has not reached a written agreement with the leadership of OSM,” the press release said. “Discussions are ongoing and the HSD Board voted to continue discussions so terms could be reached. The Board has agreed to allow 14 days to reach an agreement.”

“If an agreement is not reached, the Board will remove the propositions from the Oct. 14 ballot,” said HSD board attorney William Bourgeois.

The board made that decision at a special meeting July 12.

After its decision to end labor and delivery services at the Morgan City hospital, Ochsner pointed to what it characterized as a small number of births at the facility, about 200 a year, and demographic trends toward an older population with fewer women of child-bearing age.

The move was criticized at a board meeting because of the longer drive for expectant mothers forced to rely on hospitals in Franklin, Thibodaux or Houma. Some asked whether the hospital would continue to be able to handle a life-threatening pregnancy complication if the longer drive threatens the life of a mother and child.

Ochsner and the district agreed to talk about bringing the services back. And the district board approved the two tax propositions to raise money to bring the services back to the hospital.

Proposition 1 would create a 5.5-mill property tax. “The funds would go towards OB physician and staff recruitment to develop a department of three physicians and support the staff necessary for the department,” the district press release said. It would also allow for recruitment assistance for other specialties along with improvements to the hospital and progress reports to the community.

A mill is 1/10th cent of tax for every $1 in a property’s assessed valuation. A residential property’s assessed valuation is 10% of its market value as determined by the parish assessor. The first $7,500 of tax on a primary home would be exempt from taxation under Louisiana’s homestead exemption.

The 5.5 mills would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $68.75 per year, and the owner of a $100,000 home $13.75 per year.

“Our patients are likely paying that much in fuel to go to hospitals out of our district to deliver their babies,” said Dr. William Cefalu Jr., who practices at Oschner St. Mary and chairs the Hospital Service District No. 2 board.

Proposition 2 would rededicate existing funds from a tax no longer collected to support these efforts, the press release said. Currently those funds are restricted to the purchase of equipment and facility improvements.

If voters approve these propositions, efforts to recruit new OB-GYN physicians could begin in 2023, the press release said.

“Labor and delivery services closer to home saves lives by reducing complications and risks for mothers and babies,” Cefalu said in the press release. “Louisiana has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the U.S.”

In St. Mary Parish, the infant mortality rate is 7.6 per 1,000 live births, compared to a national rate of 5.9.

The date of the special Hospital Service District No. 2 meeting has been corrected.