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Healthcare Journal of New Orleans
I
JAN / FEB 2013
45
LAHIE Turns One
The Louisiana Health Information Exchange
(LaHIE) celebrated its one year anniversary
on Nov. 4, 2012. LaHIE was officially launched
on Nov. 4, 2011, at the Louisiana Health Infor-
mation and Management Systems Society
Conference with Lafayette General Medical
Center and Opelousas General Health System
as pilot sites in the Acadiana region. The two
pilot sites went live with LaHIE in December
2011. Also now live with LaHIE are Lafayette
General Surgical Center in Lafayette and St.
Martin Hospital in Breaux Bridge.
In its first year, many hospitals and affili-
ated clinics – including the CHRISTUS net-
work of hospitals and Baton Rouge General
Medical Center – along with ambulance com-
panies, care clinics, home health providers,
and school-based health centers have signed
participation agreements with LaHIE. In addi-
tion, the exchange achieved the ability in
July 2012 to facilitate public health report-
ing in Louisiana by connecting providers with
organizations such as the Louisiana Office of
Public Health and the Louisiana Immunization
Network for Kids Statewide (LINKS) through
its web portal.
For more information about LaHIE, contact
lahie@lhcqf.org.
LaPOST Webinar
Scheduled For January
The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum an-
nounced that Louisiana Physician Orders for
Scope of Treatment (LaPOST) will be the
focus of a webinar, “LaPOST Ready,” sched-
uled for noon on January 29, 2012. The we-
binar will feature Susan Nelson, MD, chair of
the LaPOST Coalition, a network of Louisiana
healthcare professionals dedicated to raising
awareness of the LaPOST document.
The LaPOST document is designed to
improve end-of-life care in Louisiana by hon-
oring the healthcare wishes and goals of
those with life-limiting illnesses. The webinar,
which is certified for one hour of CEU credit
for social workers, will serve to empower con-
sumers and healthcare professionals with
easy-to-access, simple-to-understand infor-
mation and resources to make educated deci-
sions about end-of-life care.
Space is limited for the complimentary
webinar. Visit lhcqf.org to register.
Louisiana Fares Poorly in
Health Rankings…Again
In early December, the United Health Foun-
dation released its 2012 America’s Health
Rankings® and once again Louisiana battled
Mississippi at the bottom of the heap. The
two states avoided the stigma of being 50th
by ending up tied for the 49th spot. For the
sixth year in a row, Vermont is the nation’s
healthiest state. Hawaii is ranked second,
followed by New Hampshire, Massachusetts
and Minnesota. The five least healthy states
are South Carolina (46), West Virginia (47),
Arkansas (48), and Mississippi and Louisiana
(49). States that showed the most substantial
improvement in rankings include: New Jersey
(nine slots), Maryland (five slots), and Ala-
bama, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nebraska,
Oklahoma and Rhode Island (three slots).
This year’s rankings saw stark differences
between the five healthiest states and the five
least healthy states, said the report. “In com-
paring the top five and bottom five states, it
is evident that the least healthy states face
formidable challenges related to behavioral
determinants of health and to socioeconomic
factors that influence health.”
While smoking rates in the five healthiest
states range from 16.8 percent to 19.4 per-
cent of the adult population, smoking rates
are between 23.1 percent and 28.6 percent
in the five least healthy states. Likewise, 27.2
percent to 36.0 percent of the population
leads sedentary lives in the five least healthy
states, compared to between 21.0 percent
and 23.5 percent of the population in the five
healthiest states.
The 2012 Rankings also illustrate the impact
of a state’s economic climate on its residents’
health. The five highest-ranked states report
a higher median household income ($51,862
to $65,880) than the five lowest-ranked
states ($37,881 to $43,939). Rates of chil-
dren in poverty, which range between 8.6
percent and 16.4 percent of residents in the
five healthiest states, are between 24.4 per-
cent and 30.5 percent in Mississippi, Louisi-
ana, Arkansas, West Virginia, and South Car-
olina. Per-capita income and poverty affect
the ability of households to afford aspects of
a healthy lifestyle. Healthier states also report
a healthier job climate. Unemployment rates
range between 5.4 percent and 7.3 percent of
the population in the top five ranked states,
compared with between 7.8 to 10.5 percent
of residents in the bottom five ranked states.
Louisiana’s ranking was helped by having
a low prevalence of binge drinking and high
immunization coverage, but high rates of sed-
entary lifestyles, diabetes, obesity, childhood
poverty, and infant mortality offset those
positives. The report’s authors did acknowl-
edge the state’s strenuous efforts to address
these issues.
state and local
healthcare news
Louisiana’s rankingwas helped by having a
lowprevalence of binge drinking and high
immunization coverage,
but highrates of
sedentary lifestyles, diabetes, obesity,
childhoodpoverty, and infantmortality
offset thosepositives.