Hurricane Katrina: CMS and HRSA Assistance to Sustain Primary Care Gains in the Greater New Orleans Area

More than 4 years after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the greater New Orleans area continues to face challenges restoring health care services disrupted by the storm and flooding that followed. In July 2007, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the $100-million Primary Care Access and Stabilization Grant (PCASG) to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH). The PCASG was intended to restore and expand access to primary care services in the greater New Orleans area without regard to a patient's ability to pay. The PCASG was designed to provide a temporary funding source--from July 23, 2007, through September 30, 2010. Despite the various types of assistance offered, concerns remain about whether the primary care gains made will be sustainable after the PCASG funding ends. Given the federal investment in providing and sustaining health care in the greater New Orleans area, Congreess asked GAO to describe what steps CMS and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) have taken to help the PCASG-funded organizations--LDHH, LPHI, and the PCASG-funded providers--sustain the primary care gains made in the greater New Orleans area.