St. Mary designated as Health Professional Shortage Area

St. Mary Parish has been designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area, triggering a series of steps that could help attract physicians and create new clinics.
Aphreikah DuHaney-West, CEO of Teche Regional Medical Center, announced the designation this week.
Benefits now available to health care providers in St. Mary Parish include state loan forgiveness to providers practicing with nonprofit organizations, expedited physician licensing, the ability to establish Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-certified rural health clinics, the ability to recruit physicians on J-1 visa waiver, and special consideration for a variety of health care grants.
CMS-certified clinics receive Federal financial assistance in return for providing primary care in a rural community.
The federal government also offers an additional financial incentive bonus to all physicians within St. Mary Parish. This HPSA benefit is to encourage higher levels of service for Medicare patients’ needs.
“All of the doctors in St. Mary Parish now qualify for the HPSA bonus,” DuHaney-West, said. “This should boost health care access for the elderly, but also help retain current physicians and help recruit additional talent.”
In order to prove the shortage, officials at Teche Regional Medical Center sought out HPSA Acumen Inc., a company that specializes in healthcare research and securing health professional shortage designations for hospitals and healthcare networks.
To acquire this designation for St. Mary Parish, Teche Regional Medical Center, in conjunction with HPSA Acumen, reviewed the backgrounds of all area doctors and surveyed their offices for physician hours, patient caseloads, and physicians’ use of certified nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Teche Regional Medical Center and HPSA Acumen then built a proposal. The Louisiana Department of Health was able to champion the project, bringing in their expertise to carry the designation all the way through Federal approval.
“Our organization may have been able to do this,” DuHaney-West, said about applying for a HPSA designation, “but we would not have been able to bring the same experience to bear, and it would have forced us to use staff time and resources that were better spent providing health care in the community.”
The designation takes effect immediately, with many doctors accruing the Medicare bonus automatically starting in 2020. Additional information on the designation is available from the Teche Regional Medical Center Web site, www.techeregional.com, and at the HPSA Acumen Web site: www.hpsa.us.
HPSA designation offers benefits to the entire community:
DuHaney-West cited additional benefits:
—Additional training may be offered for medical staff throughout the community because of the demonstrated shortages.
—Clinics may be eligible to obtain site improvement grants and loans, when available.
—Designation is a precursor to other programs because it defines the shortage area needs of a community. This allows communities to take the “next step” for many of the programs available.