Patrick Gandy, CEO of Ochsner Lafayette, told Becker’s the area has a few smaller facilities, but none that can provide multidisciplinary care.
Through a joint venture with Plano, Texas-based Oceans Healthcare, Ochsner Lafayette General will open Ochsner Behavioral Health Acadiana to provide inpatient services for adolescents, adults and geriatric populations. The facility is slated to open in 2026.
“For a community our size, we felt strongly that was something we needed to have,” Mr. Gandy said. “When we finish this project, it will give us a facility where we can bring together all the disciplines, and decrease the fractured approach to care delivery that we have in our community today.”
Many acute care hospitals have chosen joint-venture partnerships to launch new behavioral facilities. As an acute care system, Ochsner did not have the specific skillset to manage the behavioral health population, Mr. Gandy said.
“We felt identifying a partner that has the experience and the skillset to bring to the table, as we look to develop a world-class behavioral health center, it made a lot of sense. It would allow us to move forward on this strategy faster, and at the end of the day, would allow us to deliver better service to this incredibly important patient population,” he said.
Oceans Healthcare specifically was the right partner for the venture, Mr. Gandy said, because it has a strong footprint across Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.
Jefferson, La.-based Ochsner also had an existing partnership with Oceans at a facility in Shreveport, La. The joint-venture hospital reduced emergency room waiting times by eight to 10 hours, Mr. Gandy said.
Without a major behavioral health facility in the area, Ochsner Lafayette General has had to send patients to facilities in other states in order to receive the care they need, Mr. Gandy said.
“We can do better. We need to have a better approach to behavioral health services in our community so we can keep those patients here. We feel strongly that local care is better care,” he said.
Additional inpatient beds are just the start of addressing comprehensive behavioral health needs in the community, Mr. Gandy said. The system will continue to work collaboratively with Oceans to address outpatient services as well, he said.
“There’s a lot that needs to take place in the outpatient environment. We need to make sure patients in crisis have the best location to go to access services — which is not the emergency room. More to come on that,” he said.
