Jindal urges new teaching hospital board to consider alternative plan

After a meeting Monday with Sen. David Vitter, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and others, Gov. Bobby Jindal called for the University Medical Center governing board to consider a business model for a new teaching hospital in New Orleans beyond what state authorities and Louisiana State University System administrators have pushed for the past several years. The governor was careful not to endorse any particular model, but said development of a business plan for a "world-class medical education and research facility" should at least include a look at more closely integrating Tulane University's medical enterprise, which is now anchored at Tulane Medical Center, jointly owned by the university and the for-profit Hospital Corporation of America. Yet the governor also insisted that such an effort, which would involve commissioning another outside consultant, not upset the existing timeline of approving a business and financing plan by late summer and beginning construction in earnest in the succeeding months. "I don't think this has to slow anything down," Jindal said.