Continuing Our Commitment to You
Our Record of Excellence for the Communities We Serve
Founded in October 2018, Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport is a partnership between the nationally recognized health system Ochsner Health and the academic and research center LSU Health Shreveport.
Ochsner LSU Health began with a vision to expand access to care and improve the health and wellness of our communities — making our region a healthy place to live, work and raise a family. We're proud of the progress we've made, and we continue to look forward to giving our best to North Louisiana including improving and expanding facilities, enhancing patient-centered technology, growing the medical school and enhancing research.
Building on the strengths of both partners, we lead our region in healthcare and deliver preventative, primary and acute care services. The power of this partnership has made incredible results for North Louisiana.
We're proud of the progress we've made in our North Louisiana communities. Delivering on our commitment to improve the health and well-being of the region, we are:
Advancing Healthcare
- Academic Medical Center is a Level 1 Trauma Center, Level II Pediatric Trauma Center and Comprehensive Stroke Center, the only hospital in the state with all three designations.
- Launched virtual visits, digital medicine and telehealth programs.
- Academic Medical Center is designated a Level 4 Epilepsy Center and offer a dedicated Neuro ICU.
- Monroe Medical Center is designated a Level III Trauma Center and Primary Stroke Center.
- Louisiana’s first Advanced Interventional Cardiology Suite.
- Opened the state's first Comprehensive Atrial Fibrillation Center of Excellence by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.
- More than 94% increase in clinic visits – getting people the care they need, faster.
- The area’s most robotic surgery options in multiple specialties.
- Monroe Medical Center is home to northeast Louisiana’s first Hybrid Operating Room, where patients needing multi-specialty surgical treatment and imaging can be treated in a single room.
- Our Academic Medical Center achieved the state's only ECMO Gold Center of Excellence Award.
- Our St. Mary Medical Center has been named as a Top Teaching Hospital by The Leapfrog Group and one of America's Best Hospital by Money Magazine. The facility also received Leapfrog Grade “A” for Patient Safety and Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care from the Joint Commission.
- St. Mary Medical Center was awarded Press Ganey's Human Experience Guardian of Excellence Award for outstanding patient experience.
- The Louisiana Birth Ready designation was received by our Monroe Medical Center and our St. Mary Medical Center received Louisiana Birth Ready+ designation for perinatal outcomes and providing a safe, equitable and dignified birth. Monroe Medical Center is also an LaPQC Gift Designated Facility.
Expanding and Improving Facilities
- Invested more than $275 million in capital improvements with facility upgrades and renovations, new state-of-the-art equipment, innovative technology and new locations.
- More than a million square feet have been added at Ochsner LSU Health since the partnership began.
- Renovated 225,000 square feet at our St. Mary Medical Center, contributing to the revitalization of a historic Shreveport neighborhood.
- Expanded our ICU capacity with the most advanced critical care specialists in our region.
- Increased from five to more than 50 clinic offices at just over 20 convenient locations.
- Implemented advanced safety technology including a FastPass System identifying each visitor and providing name tags, doubled the security team and added more than 400 security cameras throughout our Shreveport campuses.
- At our Academic Medical Center the number of single occupancy rooms increased from 35% to 100%, ensuring patients are provided a private room.
- Our Academic Medical Center has increased critical care capacity from 28 to 59 licensed ICU beds and a new 12-bed inpatient unit in 2021.
- Implemented new transportation programs assisting patients after discharge.
- Reduced the transfer time for patients by contracting private, in-house ambulance services.
Improving Access to Care
- Team of more than 4,200 employees, 350 contracted positions and approximately 950 physicians and 150 advanced practice providers, including faculty and residents at LSU Health Shreveport.
- Increased the number of practicing physicians by 70% and grew our workforce by more than 700 employees, bringing more jobs to North Louisiana.
- Providing healthcare for rural areas through telemedicine, with affiliations including Desoto Regional Health System and increased inpatient transfers for specialty care.
- Expanded capacity and services for behavioral health patients in partnership with Oceans Healthcare by opening Louisiana Behavioral Health, offering patients a healing environment.
- Began a Hospitalist program at all three campuses improving 24/7 care for patients.
- Significantly increased appointment availability for patients who need care now.
- Continuing our mission to provide healthcare for everyone in our community with increased accessibility regardless of the patient’s insurance or ability to pay.
Our commitment to continually improve quality and safety is unwavering. Since becoming Ochsner LSU Health, we’ve seen dramatic improvement in our national patient safety standard.
- Quality and patient safety have seen significant improvements at campuses across the region, including tremendous reductions in hospital-acquired infections, fewer falls and more lives saved.
- Shreveport's Academic Medical Center on Kings Highway has reduced many hospital-acquired infections by more than half, including CAUTI (Central Associated Urinary Tract Infection), Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection, C-Difficile Infection and MRSA infection.
- St. Mary Medical Center has been recognized by Becker’s Hospital Review for achieving an infection rate of zero for MRSA and C-Difficile.
- Shreveport's Academic Medical Center is the region’s only Level I Trauma Center, Level II Pediatric Trauma Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center and Level 4 Epilepsy Center: the only hospital in the state with all four designations, all of which require strict adherence to patient safety standards.
- Monroe Medical Center verified as a Level III Trauma Center in 2023, making it the first trauma center in Northeast Louisiana. It was also the first certified Primary Stroke Center in the area and received the American Heart Association Gold Stroke Plus Award in 2024. All these certifications require strict adherence to patient safety standards.
- St. Mary Medical Center: Hospital opened in 2020 and was awarded The Leapfrog Group Top Teaching Hospital Award in 2021 reflecting excellence in the high standards of quality and excellence in patient care. Received Leapfrog Grade “A” for Patient Safety and Advanced Certification in Perinatal Care from the Joint Commission.
- Monroe Medical Center is recognized as a Louisiana Birth Ready Hospital – the only one in Northeast Louisiana – for its excellence in providing safe, high quality, equitable and dignified clinical practices to improve birth outcomes.
Ochsner LSU Health is leading North Louisiana in telehealth and digital medicine capabilities – expanding healthcare by meeting people where they are is vital to getting care to patients quickly in emergent and critical situations and tackling population health issues through convenient tools accessible through a smartphone.
- The TeleICU program expands intensive care and other specialties to our Monroe Medical Center allowing providers in Shreveport to virtually round on patients and collaborate bedside with the on-site care team.
- Launched AvaSys TeleSitter Solution that includes a two-way camera and speaker, proven to increase patient safety.
- For outpatient needs, secure virtual visits with physicians are available through the MyOchsner app that is directly tied to the patient’s electronic health record.
- Telemedicine stroke care is available to patients in other facilities through TeleStroke.
- Offering virtual visits for psychiatry through its TelePsychiatry program.
- Tackling chronic disease through digital medicine programs for hypertension and Type 2 diabetes.
- Launched virtual visits, digital medicine and telehealth programs.
- Launched TeleStork increasing monitoring of laboring mothers to improve birth outcomes.
- Launched the most advanced electronic medical record (EMR) system in the area - enhancing the continuity of care and creating a foundation for innovative digital health solutions.
In early 2021, Economist Dr. Loren C. Scott released an economic impact study on the Ochsner LSU Health System – North Louisiana. The report refers only to the Ochsner LSU Health activities of healthcare delivery system and does not take into account the additional significant impact of LSU Health Shreveport. The new Ochsner LSU Health partnership produced $9.1 million more for the State Treasury, than the institution did prior to the partnership beginning on October 1, 2018.
Northwest Louisiana:
In its first three years, from 2018 to 2021, the Ochsner and LSU Health Shreveport partnership assets supported nearly:
- $2.5 billion of sales at businesses in the Parish
- Nearly $1.5 billion in earnings for Parish residents
- Average of 7,569 jobs a year in the Parish
- $81.4 million for local government treasuries
- Improved business sales impacts in the Parish by 54%
- Boosted household earnings impacts for Parish residents by 52%
- Increased employment impacts by 2,576 jobs (+43%)
- Boosted impacts on local governments treasuries by over 54%
These benefits were occurring when the area economy was otherwise in a state of decline.
Northeast Louisiana:
Our Monroe Medical Center was one of the few entities in Ouachita Parish that grew over 2018 - 2021. Because the Ochsner and LSU Health Shreveport partnership has not only kept this hospital open but has also invested more in it, the Ouachita parish economy has enjoyed:
- $196.2 million in sales in Parish businesses
- $114.4 million in household earnings for Parish residents
- 2,044 jobs for citizens of the Parish
- $6.4 million pumped into local government coffer
Improvements in impact numbers since the partnership takeover:
- Business sales are up by $48.5 million
- Household earnings for Parish citizens are up by $18.1 million
- Jobs for Parish citizens are up by 303
- Revenues for local governments are up by half a million dollars
These gains occurred in an environment in which the Monroe MSA was losing jobs in total.
Source: The Economic Impact of the New Ochsner-LSUHSC Partnership on North Louisiana. Loren C. Scott & Associates, Inc. March 2021
Investing In Our Community
Six years into the Ochsner LSU Health partnership, much has changed. But our commitment to you, our patients and community remains the same. We're focused on improving the health and wellness of our region, making healthcare more accessible and investing in the next generation of healthcare providers. Here's a closer look at the progress we've made as we continue to serve North Louisiana.
We are especially proud of the investments we have made in our St. Mary Medical Center campus. Along with the hospital, the campus is home to several fully renovated clinics, including neurology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, women's services and a state-of-the-art imaging center, which includes the Comprehensive Breast Imaging Center. The campus is also home to a robust inpatient/outpatient surgical unit that provides an array of services that include neurology, orthopedics, GYN, breast diagnostics, pediatric ENT, and urology.
We put the health and well-being of our neighbors and community members first in all that we do. As a comprehensive, integrated organization, we provide outpatient, hospital and emergency care to the public, regardless of ability to pay.
Looking back on the past six years, remarkable progress has been made since the Ochsner LSU Health partnership began. We have greatly expanded convenient, high-quality care while driving positive economic impact and quality of life. Through our mission to serve, teach, heal, discover, lead and innovate, Ochsner LSU Health remains a committed community partner as it trains the next generation of healthcare professionals and provides top quality healthcare for people of all ages.
Making Progress Where You Need Us
We asked the physicians at Ochsner LSU Health what improvements they’ve seen to the health system since the start of the Ochsner Health and LSU Health Shreveport partnership in 2018. Their authentic, genuine responses speak for themselves and show that we’ve delivered on our commitments to our community.
Making Significant Impacts to North Louisiana
Since our partnership began, Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport has made a significant positive impact on the state and regional economies while expanding access to quality healthcare. An economic impact study was conducted to assess the contributions we've made to North Louisiana. Read the full economic impact report.