Much of the meeting featured somewhat pedantic input from a national consultant, whose appearance was funded by LSU, about different types of hospital arrangements.
The continued discussion about what type of hospital to put on the site at this point in the game begs some huge questions. For example, why have the state and its contractors expropriated and demolished property in a national historic district when they don't even know what type of hospital is going to be built?
Adequate financing, too, is still not in hand.
When the consultant showed a flowchart-type diagram of his understanding of the hospital arrangement for the complex proposed for the LSU Footprint, the audience literally chuckled out loud at the complexity of the image:
There is also clearly some simmering tension under the surface between LSU and several of the other schools with seats on the board. As one board member noted, nothing beyond placement on the board has really been worked out amongst all the component schools. And another board member noted that the design has "a number of barriers" - it's unclear how all the players will play together and how funds will be exchanged.
Other slides outlined the challenges in reduced federal funding starting in 2014 will complicate things for teaching hospitals. It was made clear, yet again, that nobody really knows how the changes from Obamacare will impact hospitals, especially a hospital that is still very much in the planning stages.
And still, as one member of the UMCMC Board noted, as if it somehow made everything okay, "We got geniuses in the room."
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