Ruston’s Northern Louisiana Medical Center is on full diversion and has apparently halted all outpatient procedures, and all elective or urgent cases until further notice.
Sources said Thursday there are no admissions to the hospital, that emergency patients are being transferred, and that those referred from doctors were sent elsewhere.
Emergency cases are reportedly being reviewed on a case-by-case basis, according to an email sent to the hospital’s staff Thursday by NLMC Medical Staff Coordinator Kristy Howard.
Ruston Fire Department ambulance are still taken patients to NLMC, but depending on the emergency, the patients may be sent elsewhere.
NLMC is blaming the diversion on widespread supply issues.
In a notice addressed to “Dear Physicians and Providers,” hospital Interim CEO Arnie Young said the decision to temporarily pause “certain services” was made with input from Dr. Aaron Marquardt and Dr. Derek McClusky.
Marquardt was the hospital’s medical director; it was unclear Thursday night whether he still is. McClusky is a general surgeon.
Young said the decision was made “first and foremost with patient safety in mind.”
“As administration, we have a responsibility to ensure that we have the necessary supplies and resources available to safety care for the patients entrusted to us. Given the recent significant decline in available supplies, we felt it was appropriate to temporarily limit those services rather than place our patients, physicians, or staff in a position where we could not maintain the standard of care we expect,” Young wrote.
He said the decision is temporary and the facility is “actively working to correct the supply situation.”
He said he anticipated a return to normal supply ranges over the next week, and that NLMC would resume the suspended services “as soon as we can get adequately stocked and confident that we can maintain those levels consistently.”
He said the pause is not an indication that NLMC is closing or a signal that widespread jobs losses are coming.
The full diversion comes as the hospital remains under both state and federal scrutiny. State reviewers have been to the facility three times since May and each time discovered deficiencies.
While some have been corrected, others linger. NLMC was given a Sept. 2 deadline to correct the shortfalls or face termination from the federal Medicare program on Oct. 1.Information was unavailable Thursday night as to whether they met the deadline.
This is a developing story.
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