New Orleans hospital to rely on state to stay afloat

A proposed teaching hospital in downtown New Orleans will not turn a profit as planners originally envisioned, and instead will require a steady infusion of state cash to survive. The 424-bed hospital, however, will be in a better position to succeed than other hospitals in the state's charity system because a new business plan developed by the health department accounts for depreciation, said Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine. That will allow the hospital to pay for equipment and upkeep in a way that other state hospitals have been unable to do, he added.