Three broadcast programs recently reported on the health care system in New Orleans. Summaries of the programs appear below.
CBS' "Evening News": The program on Thursday reported on the shortage of health care providers in New Orleans. Four hospitals that closed after Hurricane Katrina have not reopened, "[t]housands of doctors have left and a quarter of the adult population has no insurance," according to "Evening News." Kevin Jordan -- chief medical officer at Touro Infirmary, one of the few operational hospitals in the city -- said the departure of many primary care physicians from New Orleans has exacerbated overcrowding at hospital emergency departments and has led to wait times of up to two months for doctor appointments. "Evening News" reports that the federal government three months ago agreed to allocate $100 million to fund primary care clinics in New Orleans. However, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said the city to date has "seen very little of that money" (Couric, "Evening News," CBS, 8/30). Video of the segment and expanded CBS News coverage are available online.

CNN's "American Morning": The program on Wednesday reported on mental health care in New Orleans. Cecile Tebo of the New Orleans Health Department said there has been a "huge surge" in individuals with chronic mental illness returning to the city in the past six to nine months. At the same times, more Katrina survivors are "developing new problems," and there are fewer hospital beds available for people with mental illness, "American Morning" reports. According to preliminary results from an ongoing Harvard Medical School study, mental illness rates in New Orleans are twice pre-Katrina levels, with sharp increases in the number of people considering suicide or experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (Gupta, "American Morning," CNN, 8/29). Video of the segment and expanded CNN coverage are available online. A transcript of the segment also is available online.

NPR's "All Things Considered": The program on Wednesday reported on the mental health care system in New Orleans. The number of adult psychiatric beds has dropped from 240 prior to Katrina to 30 currently in Orleans Parish, which has a population of about 300,000. According to NPR, the "crisis ... is so intense that even mentally ill patients who were a threat to themselves or others are often turned away" from hospitals. Part of the reason for the shortage of beds is that Charity Hospital -- a state-run facility that accounted for nearly half of the city's psychiatric beds -- closed after Katrina and has not reopened. Officials at the city's private hospitals say they cannot afford to provide more psychiatric beds because hospitals receive no state or federal reimbursements for the care, NPR reports. Jordan -- CMO of Touro, a private hospital -- said the facility lost about $10.8 million in 2006 and projects to lose $15 million to $18 million in 2007 and up to $25 million in future years. "We can't commit to certain services that may not be well-funded or not funded at all," Jordan said (Spiegel, "All Things Considered," NPR, 8/29). Audio of the segment is available online. Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.