GAO: New Orleans' health system lags

WASHINGTON — The city of New Orleans has only 456 staffed hospital beds, compared with 2,269 before the city was struck by Hurricane Katrina, according to government auditors who say rebuilding the health-care system will be vital for bringing people back.

While emergency care is available, auditors noted that patients at two hospitals waited for up to two hours to be unloaded from ambulances. They also found patients being kept and treated in emergency rooms because beds weren't available elsewhere.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that several efforts are under way to plan how to rebuild that system but that no clear consensus has emerged.

The lack of clarity stems in part from the uncertain estimates of how many people plan to return.

Democrats who requested the study said the findings show the Bush administration must be more aggressive in leading the rebuilding efforts.

"It is unacceptable that six months after Hurricane Katrina, people are still receiving health-care services in mobile tents and old department stores," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., taking aim at Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. "Exactly how does the secretary expect the Gulf Coast region to prepare for a potential flu pandemic or the next hurricane season given the current state of their health-care system?"

Leavitt spokeswoman Christina Pearson said the secretary has met regularly with state officials to hear how they would like to see the health-care system improved, and he sees opportunities to make the system better than it was before the hurricane struck, particularly through the use of health-information technology. She did not know when those improvements would be proposed.

The GAO report said that when auditors visited New Orleans, they found primary and emergency health care was available, but access to specialty care was quite limited.