David Callecod's guest appearances

David Callecod

Discover Lafayette

Acadiana's Morning News Podcast

Kip Judice

Liz Webb Hebert

Katie Hebert

Beau Beaullieu

Moncus Park

Fred Mills

Michele Ezell

Jim Dore

Julie Emerson

Ken Veron

Troy Wayman

Anita Begnaud

Ben Berthelot

Stephen Handwerk

Carlee Alm-LaBar

OwlTail

Lafayette General Health System CEO David Callecod joined Jan Swift to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted our healthcare system and way of life. The bottom line is that progressing to Phase III of the pandemic, the full reopening of our economy, and returning to “normal” is totally dependent on our own individual and collective behavior changes: everyone must wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash their hands, and stay home if sick.  The reality is that for the next 18 months (and worst case scenario, the next 24 months), we will not going to be back to the life we experienced and enjoyed as “normal” before the pandemic closed down the U. S in March 2020. Moreover, some people will probably continue to wear masks from here on out, in a manner similar to Asian and European countries pattern, particularly if their immune system is compromised.  We all need to be diligent every day in making good choices as to how we work together and celebrate life as we wait for an effective vaccine to be developed. Callecod shared a telling story about a recent COVID outbreak affecting 18 anesthesiology residents and fellows of the University of Florida Health System following a private party on July 10; even with explicit warnings about private gatherings, these events continue to happen across the U. S., even among our most educated. Locally, Callecod says it is “absolutely safe” to enter hospitals, as long as people make good choices in wearing a mask and following good hygiene procedures. Cleaning protocols are in place and the hospitals screen people before they enter.  When determining which hospital to bring trauma victims to, emergency medical responders and hospitals rely upon LERN, “Louisiana Emergency Response Network,” a statewide system of care coordination that is utilized in the face of large scale emergencies such as COVID. LERN manages data on trauma cases throughout the state, and as long as LGH can handle the case with adequate staff, people will be brought to the main campus. Callecod stated, “As long as LGH can handle it from a staffing standpoint for the patient’s particular situation, we’ll take the patient.” There are currently over 100 COVID-19 patients at the main Lafayette General campus in the Oil Center, and they are separated from other patients in the facility. Elective procedures have been moved to other LGH campuses such as Lafayette General Orthopaedic Hospital and Lafayette General Surgical Hospital, in order to ensure that staff can take care of emergencies at the main campus which serves as the Level II Trauma Center for the region.  Staff shortages experienced by hospitals has been a hot topic in the news and Callecod explained what is different now from the early days of the pandemic. “On April 13 during the first peak of the pandemic cases, we didn’t have a lot of community spread, so we didn’t have a lot of workers out. With the peak today, with over 140 COVID patients throughout our entire system, a lot of workers are out sick. There aren’t enough nurses and we have 86 employees system wide out today with COVID. Once they’re back, they are fatigued and we have to be cautious with our shifts.” At the time of our interview, eight contract nurses had been recruited by LGH from outside of the region and were set to start work. The community spread of the disease is greatly impacting staffing capacity at all hospitals. Healthcare workers are in short supply as Lafayette General and other hospitals; as facilities increase ICU beds and add medical surge capacity needed to address the anticipated increased volume of patients, staffing needs will continue to grow. Typically the hospital could easily recruit out-of-state, but COVID’s reach has dramatically affected the supply of available workers. Telemedicine has transformed the delivery of medical services and the lessons learned from COVID will change protocols moving into the future. “Why do we have waiting rooms that congregate sick people?” professionals are asking. “The genie is out of the bottle with telemedicine, ” Callecod says. From March 2020, LGH has experienced 16,000 telemedicine visits and 2300 urgent care visits via their Lafayette General Health Anywhere App. Telemedicine reimbursement is an issue that policymakers need to address. While Medicare and Medicaid telemedicine visits have been covered, many private insurers are not covering care by private physicians as insurers have been leery of telemedicine cases exploding. LGH has been fortunate to be reimbursed for its telemedicine care of the LSU System but Callecod shared that there is a long way to go in convincing insurers to cover this emerging form of treatment. Treatment protocols have changed dramatically from the start of the pandemic to today. In the beginning, patients were put on ventilators as quickly as possible and now the docs know that it is best to wait as long as possible to pursue that course of treatment. Now, other means are being used to increase air flow and lung capacity such as CPAP and BiPap units which have proven more helpful. Steroids are administered and Remesvidir has had really good effects on patients. Fewer patients go to ICU and fewer go on ventilators.  One of the reasons more patients are in the hospital is that the length of stay in the ICU and for medical surge patients have dropped in half. The hospitals have more capacity because they’ve learned how to treat their patients, and nationwide, hospitals are sharing this experience.  Symptoms of illness vary dramatically from patient to patient, even within the same family who may all contract the virus. Some may become severely ill, others not; some have GI issues, others have respiratory, others have no symptoms. That is why it is important to wear a mask, as many people, especially the young, are asymptomatic. The opening of schools is concerning as the kids are typically asymptomatic.   “I am concerned that once we get the petrie dish of schools back in session, if we don’t socially distance and wear masks, we’ll see an uptick in cases which will affect all segments of our society, ” says Callecod. Now that people are experiencing neighbors, family members and co-workers contracting the disease, it is becoming more real. “This is not a political issue to wear a mask. You protect everyone else as you don’t know if you have it. So many people are asymptomatic. You are being neighborly and civically responsible by wearing your mask. If you want the economy to open, to go to football games, wear your mask.” Lafayette General’s merger with Oschner Health is moving forward and the anticipated date for completion is October 1, 2020. The Louisiana Attorney General has to approve the merger, as does the federal government pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino act which prevents monopolies under antitrust laws. Lafayette General, as well as other hospitals in the LGH system (St. Martin Hospital, University Hospital &amp; Clinics, Acadia General, etc.), will retain their names. The merger will result in a $450 million investment in capital improvements, programming, and other advancements in the region. Lafayette General Health is moving forward with improvements in its main campus and endeavors such as Women’s Services, Cancer, and Neuroscience Centers. Projects throughout Lafayette Parish and LGH’s partners will proceed and Callecod projects that other partnerships in the region will occur.  Callecod shared in closing that there is no collective memory of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, as well as the Polio outbreak in the 1950s. When this is all said and done, this coronavirus is incredibly contagious. It is just slowly making its way through society and we may experience incredible losses. We must all work together to protect ourselves and each other.  Discover Lafayette thanks David Callecod and Lafayette General Health for their contributions to our healthcare community, and for sharing this message on our podcast! Please everyone, exercise good hygiene and wear your mask until we get past this pandemic!

Lafayette General Health System CEO David Callecod joined Jan Swift to discuss how COVID-19 has impacted our healthcare system and way of life. The bottom line is that progressing to Phase III of the pandemic, the full reopening of our economy, and returning to “normal” is totally dependent on our own individual and collective behavior changes: everyone must wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash their hands, and stay home if sick. The reality is that for the next 18 months (and worst case scenario, the next 24 months), we will not going to be back to the life we experienced and enjoyed as “normal” before the pandemic closed down the U. S in March 2020. Moreover, some people will probably continue to wear masks from here on out, in a manner similar to Asian and European countries pattern, particularly if their immune system is compromised. We all need to be diligent every day in making good choices as to how we work together and celebrate life as we wait for an effective vaccine to be developed. Callecod shared a telling story about a recent COVID outbreak affecting 18 anesthesiology residents and fellows of the University of Florida Health System following a private party on July 10; even with explicit warnings about private gatherings, these events continue to happen across the U. S., even among our most educated. Locally, Callecod says it is “absolutely safe” to enter hospitals, as long as people make good choices in wearing a mask and following good hygiene procedures. Cleaning protocols are in place and the hospitals screen people before they enter. When determining which hospital to bring trauma victims to, emergency medical responders and hospitals rely upon <a href="http://lern.la.gov/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">LERN</a>, “Louisiana Emergency Response Network,” a statewide system of care coordination that is utilized in the face of large scale emergencies such as COVID. LERN manages data on trauma cases throughout the state, and as long as LGH can handle the case with adequate staff, people will be brought to the main campus. Callecod stated, “As long as LGH can handle it from a staffing standpoint for the patient’s particular situation, we’ll take the patient.” There are currently over 100 COVID-19 patients at the main Lafayette General campus in the Oil Center, and they are separated from other patients in the facility. Elective procedures have been moved to other LGH campuses such as Lafayette General Orthopaedic Hospital and Lafayette General Surgical Hospital, in order to ensure that staff can take care of emergencies at the main campus which serves as the Level II Trauma Center for the region. Staff shortages experienced by hospitals has been a hot topic in the news and Callecod explained what is different now from the early days of the pandemic. “On April 13 during the first peak of the pandemic cases, we didn’t have a lot of community spread, so we didn’t have a lot of workers out. With the peak today, with over 140 COVID patients throughout our entire system, a lot of workers are out sick. There aren’t enough nurses and we have 86 employees system wide out today with COVID. Once they’re back, they are fatigued and we have to be cautious with our shifts.” At the time of our interview, eight contract nurses had been recruited by LGH from outside of the region and were set to start work. The community spread of the disease is greatly impacting staffing capacity at all hospitals. Healthcare workers are in short supply as Lafayette General and other hospitals; as facilities increase ICU beds and add medical surge capacity needed to address the anticipated increased volume of patients, staffing needs will continue to grow. Typically the hospital could easily recruit out-of-state, but COVID’s reach has dramatically affected the supply of available workers. Telemedicine has transformed the delivery of medical services and the lessons learned from COVID will change protocols moving into the future. “Why do we have waiting rooms that congregate sick people?” professionals are asking. “The genie is out of the bottle with telemedicine, ” Callecod says. From March 2020, LGH has experienced 16,000 telemedicine visits and 2300 urgent care visits via their <a href="https://www.lafayettegeneral.com/healthcare-home" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lafayette General Health Anywhere App</a>. Telemedicine reimbursement is an issue that policymakers need to address. While Medicare and Medicaid telemedicine visits have been covered, many private insurers are not covering care by private physicians as insurers have been leery of telemedicine cases exploding. LGH has been fortunate to be reimbursed for its telemedicine care of the LSU System but Callecod shared that there is a long way to go in convincing insurers to cover this emerging form of treatment. Treatment protocols have changed dramatically from the start of the pandemic to today. In the beginning, patients were put on ventilators as quickly as possible and now the docs know that it is best to wait as long as possible to pursue that course of treatment. Now, other means are being used to increase air flow and lung capacity such as CPAP and BiPap units which have proven more helpful. Steroids are administered and Remesvidir has had really good effects on patients. Fewer patients go to ICU and fewer go on ventilators. One of the reasons more patients are in the hospital is that the length of stay in the ICU and for medical surge patients have dropped in half. The hospitals have more capacity because they’ve learned how to treat their patients, and nationwide, hospitals are sharing this experience. Symptoms of illness vary dramatically from patient to patient, even within the same family who may all contract the virus. Some may become severely ill, others not; some have GI issues, others have respiratory, others have no symptoms. That is why it is important to wear a mask, as many people, especially the young, are asymptomatic. The opening of schools is concerning as the kids are typically asymptomatic. “I am concerned that once we get the petrie dish of schools back in session, if we don’t socially distance and wear masks, we’ll see an uptick in cases which will affect all segments of our society, ” says Callecod. Now that people are experiencing neighbors, family members and co-workers contracting the disease, it is becoming more real. “This is not a political issue to wear a mask. You protect everyone else as you don’t know if you have it. So many people are asymptomatic. You are being neighborly and civically responsible by wearing your mask. If you want the economy to open, to go to football games, wear your mask.” Lafayette General’s merger with Oschner Health is moving forward and the anticipated date for completion is October 1, 2020. The Louisiana Attorney General has to approve the merger, as does the federal government pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino act which prevents monopolies under antitrust laws. Lafayette General, as well as other hospitals in the LGH system (St. Martin Hospital, University Hospital &amp; Clinics, Acadia General, etc.), will retain their names. The merger will result in a $450 million investment in capital improvements, programming, and other advancements in the region. Lafayette General Health is moving forward with improvements in its main campus and endeavors such as Women’s Services, Cancer, and Neuroscience Centers. Projects throughout Lafayette Parish and LGH’s partners will proceed and Callecod projects that other partnerships in the region will occur. Callecod shared in closing that there is no collective memory of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, as well as the Polio outbreak in the 1950s. When this is all said and done, this coronavirus is incredibly contagious. It is just slowly making its way through society and we may experience incredible losses. We must all work together to protect ourselves and each other. Discover Lafayette thanks David Callecod and Lafayette General Health for their contributions to our healthcare community, and for sharing this message on our podcast! Please everyone, exercise good hygiene and wear your mask until we get past this pandemic!

David Callecod, CEO of Lafayette General Health, Shares Impact of COVID, Oschner Merger

David Callecod | Lafayette General Health Responds To Coronavirus

David Callecod | Lafayette General Health Responds To Coronavirus

David Callecod hit the ground running when he was hired by Lafayette General Hospital (“LGH”) in July 2008 as its President and CEO. Under the capable leadership of Lafayette General’s board of directors and its vision of creating a strong regional healthcare network, Callecod oversaw the partnership with St. Martin Hospital in Breaux Bridge within a few months of his arrival. He has also risen through the ranks of leadership with his peers and serves as the current chair of the Louisiana Hospital Association. In 2008, Lafayette General Hospital had two facilities with 1700 employees and $170 million in net revenue. Fast forward eleven years, there are now 4600 employees with net revenue of $750 million in facilities the system owns which include Lafayette General Orthopaedic Hospital, Lafayette General Surgical Hospital, St. Martin Hospital, University Hospital &amp; Clinics (UHC), Acadia General Hospital and Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital. LGH also enjoys partnerships with Abbeville General Hospital, Bunkie General Hospital, Cardiovascular Institute of the South, Franklin Foundation Hospital, Iberia Medical Center, Jennings American Legion Hospital, and Opelousas General Health System. When you combine all partners of LGH, the collective net revenue is $1.1 billion. David Callecod is passionate and optimistic about the opportunities LGH has to positively transform health outcomes in South Louisiana. Humbly providing servant leadership to LGH’s vast network of health professionals, every hospital LGH has acquired has moved into the highest patient satisfaction rankings.   Lafayette General ‘s main campus serves as the Level Two Trauma Center for all of Southwest Louisiana covering the geographic region from the Atchalayafa Basin to the Texas border. From an economic development perspective, maintaining access to this high acuity healthcare in Lafayette prevents patients from transferring to larger regional centers such as Baton Rouge or Houston. On a personal level, it affords higher quality healthcare outcomes while giving loved ones the opportunity to receive treatment close to home. A strategic partnership with Oschner Health Network was undertaken four years ago by LGH to combine its purchasing power and reduce overall costs to both systems. As the reimbursement model for health industry providers has quickly evolved, innovative approaches have been pursued to cut costs while ensuring the highest quality healthcare options to keep patients from needing to reenter the hospital. The partnership has also created an expansion of physician services such as in pediatric specialties, diagnostic imaging, and biomedical services.  LGH took over University Hospital five years ago amid massive budget cuts to LSU’s teaching and “charity” hospital system. Maintaining the program for graduate medical training in Lafayette is a critical component in attracting physicians to the area as many doctors decide to put down permanent roots in the geographic region in which they train.  UHC and Lafayette General educate 82 residents per year, and approximately 250 residents rotate through Lafayette General from LSU each year. Specialties such as internal medicine, family practice, OB/GYN, general surgery and ENT are examples of strong programs taught, although many other specialties are represented.  Lafayette General’s Women’s Health division is now the #1 location for babies to be born in the region and the unit assists with the delivery of over 3200 babies each year. Run by Judy Robichaux, Director of Maternal, Newborn and Pediatric Services, the unit has earned a 99% patient satisfaction rating.  David Callecod serves on One Acadiana’s CEO Advisory Council and he is a big proponent of the “55 by 25” initiative to ensure that 55% of Acadiana’s adults achieve some type of higher ed certification by 2025. Educational achievement is directly tied to the quality of life outcomes experienced by people, including good health, and LGH supports this important focus of increasing educational outcomes in South Louisiana. One-third of Acadiana’s residents (200,000 of the approximately 600,000 people) are eligible for Medicaid benefits, and one-half of this population is composed of children. Our region actually has the highest percentage of the Medicaid population in the state of Louisiana. While Medicaid expansion under the Obama administration and adoption of the expanded benefit coverage in Louisiana expand access to coverage, it did not correspondingly move in additional healthcare professionals to the region, according to Callecod. After the expansion of “Obamacare,” emergency rooms were flooded with additional patients who were covered by government-funded healthcare. Yet, the program has helped hospitals cover the cost of services they are mandated to provide and Callecod stated that about 54,000 people access healthcare through University Hospital and Clinic (UHC) each year. The Beacon Project, developed by the Justice and Health Collaborative and funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is near and dear to Callecod as an effective method to improve our community’s health and prevent patients from using the emergency room as a revolving door for treatment. Our region is unique in many ways due to high poverty levels and social determinants of health which have much more to do with health outcomes than the quality of healthcare one receives. Factors such as food and housing insecurity, lack of a caregiver at home, reliable transportation and social isolation greatly impact how a person heals and how likely it is they will end up back in an emergency room for further treatment. LGH identifies patients who have social needs and connects them with assistance through the Beacon Project which calls upon community partners in existence locally, such as Catholic Services of Acadiana, Volunteers of America, FoodNet Food Bank of Lafayette, Acadiana Area Human Services District and Volunteer Instructors Teaching Adults. In just one 90-day period in partnering with the Beacon Project, LGH radically reduced readmissions, cut down on billings of approximately $12 million to the Medicaid system, and recognized direct savings of up to $2 million in costs by cutting out unnecessary services that could be avoided with adequate attention to underlying social needs. This podcast hones in on the poignant fact that healthcare delivery is changing dramatically overnight, due to changing market forces. These changes keep David up at night thinking about the future of healthcare delivery.  Healthcare is a huge portion (20%) of the GDP of the United States and companies such as Uber, Amazon and CVS are stepping up to compete for the “vertical patients” who are relatively healthy but need some sort of assistance. As David stated, the only people hospitals are guaranteed to help are those that are “horizontal,” being carried into the hospital, and showing up with critical healthcare needs. Keeping up with changing market trends and delivering services to the healthy majority is the only way hospitals will be able to survive in the long term and deliver critical care when it is most needed. Keeping up with technological innovation is the key to survival. Hospitals are now being reimbursed for “outcomes” and not for the traditional “per treatment” or Fee For Service model historical model. To address this reality, LGH has increased its partnerships with home-based healthcare agencies, rehabilitation centers, longterm acute care agencies, and palliative care organizations to increase beneficial outcomes which prevent patients from incurring the need to be readmitted to the hospital.   Lafayette General Health has plans to invest in revitalizing the Oil Center in the Hospital Drive corridor by adding a medical office building, increasing the size of its Cancer Center and Neuroscience Center, and add convenient housing for its 82 residents. Utilizing Opportunity Zone tax credits and monies invested through its Lafayette General Health Foundation, LGH is excited about its upcoming growth and increased footprint. The Innovation Fund 1.0 was set up by Lafayette General Health Foundation to strategically invest in companies that are developing new ways of providing healthcare services that LGH will use. LGH serves as the “testbed” for the products. Get Well Loop is a good example of a new mobile device that helps LGH to follow up its case management and the app is now being used by providers across the country. Another successful project funded with $250,000 from the Foundation is RDnote which aims to improve the lives of people with chronic diseases by providing high-quality nutrition care in clinical settings and at home.  Innovation Fund 2.0 has recently been funded with $6 million for a new round of product development. Partners include the Schumacher Group, LHC and Acadian Companies who are assisting and positioning Lafayette as the go-to place for incubating revolutionary healthcare products. Telemedicine provides the newest method of delivering healthcare by maximizing the services of providers LGH employs and was first utilized in-house at Stuller. This innovative program is also utilized by LGH’s own employees, Lafayette City Government, and the St. Martin Parish Jail. Utilized by local elementary schools, statistics show that the children are missing just a fraction of the days they used to, test scores are improving, and the kids are keeping their seats! Telestroke, telepsychiatry, and telehospitalist virtual delivery services have been successfully employed to add value, lower costs and maximize the time providers have to deliver treatment.  Please visit  https://www.lafayettegeneral.com for more information on all services provided to ensure your best health care.

David Callecod hit the ground running when he was hired by Lafayette General Hospital (“LGH”) in July 2008 as its President and CEO. Under the capable leadership of Lafayette General’s board of directors and its vision of creating a strong regional healthcare network, Callecod oversaw the partnership with St. Martin Hospital in Breaux Bridge within a few months of his arrival. He has also risen through the ranks of leadership with his peers and serves as the current chair of the <a href="https://www.lhaonline.org/page/498" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Louisiana Hospital Association.</a> In 2008, Lafayette General Hospital had two facilities with 1700 employees and $170 million in net revenue. Fast forward eleven years, there are now 4600 employees with net revenue of $750 million in facilities the system owns which include Lafayette General Orthopaedic Hospital, Lafayette General Surgical Hospital, St. Martin Hospital, University Hospital &amp; Clinics (UHC), Acadia General Hospital and Abrom Kaplan Memorial Hospital. LGH also enjoys partnerships with Abbeville General Hospital, Bunkie General Hospital, Cardiovascular Institute of the South, Franklin Foundation Hospital, Iberia Medical Center, Jennings American Legion Hospital, and Opelousas General Health System. When you combine all partners of LGH, the collective net revenue is $1.1 billion. David Callecod is passionate and optimistic about the opportunities LGH has to positively transform health outcomes in South Louisiana. Humbly providing servant leadership to LGH’s vast network of health professionals, every hospital LGH has acquired has moved into the highest patient satisfaction rankings. Lafayette General ‘s main campus serves as the Level Two Trauma Center for all of Southwest Louisiana covering the geographic region from the Atchalayafa Basin to the Texas border. From an economic development perspective, maintaining access to this high acuity healthcare in Lafayette prevents patients from transferring to larger regional centers such as Baton Rouge or Houston. On a personal level, it affords higher quality healthcare outcomes while giving loved ones the opportunity to receive treatment close to home. A strategic partnership with Oschner Health Network was undertaken four years ago by LGH to combine its purchasing power and reduce overall costs to both systems. As the reimbursement model for health industry providers has quickly evolved, innovative approaches have been pursued to cut costs while ensuring the highest quality healthcare options to keep patients from needing to reenter the hospital. The partnership has also created an expansion of physician services such as in pediatric specialties, diagnostic imaging, and biomedical services. LGH took over University Hospital five years ago amid massive budget cuts to LSU’s teaching and “charity” hospital system. Maintaining the program for graduate medical training in Lafayette is a critical component in attracting physicians to the area as many doctors decide to put down permanent roots in the geographic region in which they train. UHC and Lafayette General educate 82 residents per year, and approximately 250 residents rotate through Lafayette General from LSU each year. Specialties such as internal medicine, family practice, OB/GYN, general surgery and ENT are examples of strong programs taught, although many other specialties are represented. Lafayette General’s Women’s Health division is now the #1 location for babies to be born in the region and the unit assists with the delivery of over 3200 babies each year. Run by Judy Robichaux, Director of Maternal, Newborn and Pediatric Services, the unit has earned a 99% patient satisfaction rating. David Callecod serves on One Acadiana’s CEO Advisory Council and he is a big proponent of the “55 by 25” initiative to ensure that 55% of Acadiana’s adults achieve some type of higher ed certification by 2025. Educational achievement is directly tied to the quality of life outcomes experienced by people, including good health, and LGH supports this important focus of increasing educational outcomes in South Louisiana. One-third of Acadiana’s residents (200,000 of the approximately 600,000 people) are eligible for Medicaid benefits, and one-half of this population is composed of children. Our region actually has the highest percentage of the Medicaid population in the state of Louisiana. While Medicaid expansion under the Obama administration and adoption of the expanded benefit coverage in Louisiana expand access to coverage, it did not correspondingly move in additional healthcare professionals to the region, according to Callecod. After the expansion of “Obamacare,” emergency rooms were flooded with additional patients who were covered by government-funded healthcare. Yet, the program has helped hospitals cover the cost of services they are mandated to provide and Callecod stated that about 54,000 people access healthcare through University Hospital and Clinic (UHC) each year. The <a href="http://bcbslafoundation.org/2018/08/the-beacon-project-guides-acadians-toward-help-and-hope" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Beacon Project</a>, developed by the Justice and Health Collaborative and funded by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is near and dear to Callecod as an effective method to improve our community’s health and prevent patients from using the emergency room as a revolving door for treatment. Our region is unique in many ways due to high poverty levels and social determinants of health which have much more to do with health outcomes than the quality of healthcare one receives. Factors such as food and housing insecurity, lack of a caregiver at home, reliable transportation and social isolation greatly impact how a person heals and how likely it is they will end up back in an emergency room for further treatment. LGH identifies patients who have social needs and connects them with assistance through the Beacon Project which calls upon community partners in existence locally, such as Catholic Services of Acadiana, Volunteers of America, FoodNet Food Bank of Lafayette, Acadiana Area Human Services District and Volunteer Instructors Teaching Adults. In just one 90-day period in partnering with the Beacon Project, LGH radically reduced readmissions, cut down on billings of approximately $12 million to the Medicaid system, and recognized direct savings of up to $2 million in costs by cutting out unnecessary services that could be avoided with adequate attention to underlying social needs. This podcast hones in on the poignant fact that healthcare delivery is changing dramatically overnight, due to changing market forces. These changes keep David up at night thinking about the future of healthcare delivery. Healthcare is a huge portion (20%) of the GDP of the United States and companies such as Uber, Amazon and CVS are stepping up to compete for the “vertical patients” who are relatively healthy but need some sort of assistance. As David stated, the only people hospitals are guaranteed to help are those that are “horizontal,” being carried into the hospital, and showing up with critical healthcare needs. Keeping up with changing market trends and delivering services to the healthy majority is the only way hospitals will be able to survive in the long term and deliver critical care when it is most needed. Keeping up with technological innovation is the key to survival. Hospitals are now being reimbursed for “outcomes” and not for the traditional “per treatment” or Fee For Service model historical model. To address this reality, LGH has increased its partnerships with home-based healthcare agencies, rehabilitation centers, longterm acute care agencies, and palliative care organizations to increase beneficial outcomes which prevent patients from incurring the need to be readmitted to the hospital. Lafayette General Health has plans to invest in revitalizing the Oil Center in the Hospital Drive corridor by adding a medical office building, increasing the size of its Cancer Center and Neuroscience Center, and add convenient housing for its 82 residents. Utilizing Opportunity Zone tax credits and monies invested through its Lafayette General Health Foundation, LGH is excited about its upcoming growth and increased footprint. The Innovation Fund 1.0 was set up by Lafayette General Health Foundation to strategically invest in companies that are developing new ways of providing healthcare services that LGH will use. LGH serves as the “testbed” for the products. <a href="https://www.getwellnetwork.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Get Well Loop</a> is a good example of a new mobile device that helps LGH to follow up its case management and the app is now being used by providers across the country. Another successful project funded with $250,000 from the Foundation is <a href="https://www.bizneworleans.com/lafayette-general-foundations-healthcare-innovation-fund-invests-in-new-orleans-based-rdnote" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RDnote which aims to improve the lives of people with chronic diseases by providing high-quality nutrition care in clinical settings and at home. </a> Innovation Fund 2.0 has recently been funded with $6 million for a new round of product development. Partners include the Schumacher Group, LHC and Acadian Companies who are assisting and positioning Lafayette as the go-to place for incubating revolutionary healthcare products. Telemedicine provides the newest method of delivering healthcare by maximizing the services of providers LGH employs and was first utilized in-house at Stuller. This innovative program is also utilized by LGH’s own employees, Lafayette City Government, and the St. Martin Parish Jail. Utilized by local elementary schools, statistics show that the children are missing just a fraction of the days they used to, test scores are improving, and the kids are keeping their seats! Telestroke, telepsychiatry, and telehospitalist virtual delivery services have been successfully employed to add value, lower costs and maximize the time providers have to deliver treatment. Please visit <a href="https://www.lafayettegeneral.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.lafayettegeneral.com</a> for more information on all services provided to ensure your best health care.