The report, “Hospitals: Economic Agents in the Louisiana Economy,” estimated overall expenditures for hospitals to be $12.9 billion and overall business transactions to be $27.4 billion.
The study also found that Louisiana’s healthcare sector employs more than 274,347 people, around 13.5 percent of the state’s total workforce and 15 percent of the state’s private payroll. Additionally, construction projects by hospitals generated new jobs and spending, benefiting the state.
Louisiana hospitals, however, face many challenges, including loss of reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid programs, which account for 71 percent of the state’s hospital services. The majority of hospitals had seen a reduction in patient account collections and had frozen or reduced capital purchases in 2008, according to the study.
The study also found elective surgeries to have decreased and emergency room visits for uninsured patients to have increased.
Read the news release on the economic benefit of Louisiana hospitals (pdf).
