Lawmakers gave final approval yesterday to close 116-bed Earl K. Long Medical Center and shift healthcare services for the area’s poor and uninsured to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, a 1,049-bed private hospital in Baton Rouge. Our Lady of the Lake will also assume operations of Earl K. Long’s affiliated outpatient clinics, according to the report.
More than 770 employees will be laid off as a result of Earl K. Long’s closure. They will be able to reapply for their positions with Our Lady of the Lake, according to the report.
Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and his administration decided to close Earl K. Long in 2010 to avoid replacing the hospital’s deteriorating facility.
The hospital was originally slated to close in November of this year, but too many employees began leaving the hospital during partnership negotiations, driving its closure six months sooner. A cut to the state’s federal Medicaid financing also hastened the hospital closure.
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