State and local officials today are announcing that public-private partnerships have been developed to operate three hospitals in the LSU system including the Interim LSU Hospital in New Orleans.

The hospital in New Orleans, better known as University Hospital, will be operated by the non-profit corporation that runs Children's Hospital and Touro Infirmary.  The company will run the existing hospital and the new University Medical Center which is under construction and is scheduled to open in 2 years.

Agreements also have been reached with private partners for the operation of the Leonard Chabert Medical Center in Houma and the Lafayette General Medical Center.

The announcements are being made by the Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Bruce Greenstein and Dr. Frank Opelka, Executive Vice President of the LSU System.

Layoffs at hospitals run by the LSU System that were originally scheduled to take effect in mid-January were put off as negotiations continued with prospective private partners.  Over 400 employees of the Interim LSU Hospital in New Orleans had been scheduled to be laid off and over 200 employees of the Chabert Medical Center in Houma would have been affected.

The plan to layoff 1,500 employees at 7 LSU hospitals was approved in October by the LSU Board in response to $300 million in budget cuts after Congress reduced the federal contribution to the state's Medicaid program for the poor.