Louisiana Department of Health
The Louisiana Department of Health, formerly known as the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, is a state agency of Louisiana, headquartered in Baton Rouge. It is Louisiana's largest state agency with a budget of $14 billion and approximately 6,300 personnel. The agency oversees the health of the population under its current secretary, Dr. Rebekah Gee.
Leadership
Dr. Rebekah Gee, an obstetrician and gynecologist, was appointed secretary in 2016 by Governor John Bel Edwards. Prior to her role as secretary, she served as Louisiana's Medicaid medical director. Before that, she was the director for the Birth Outcomes Initiative. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 and recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of 2019's Women Leaders to Watch in Healthcare. She resigned effective January 31, 2020; she was replaced by Stephen Russo as interim secretary pending a permanent replacement.Mark A. Thomas has served as deputy secretary, the chief operating officer of LDH, since 2018. His previous role was assistant secretary for LDH's Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities from 2013 to 2018. The deputy secretary is the coordinator for LDH's Regional Coordinating Councils and oversees the coordination and implementation of the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Mission
The mission of the Louisiana Department of Health is to protect and promote health and to ensure access to medical, preventive and rehabilitative services for all citizens of the state of Louisiana.Offices of the Louisiana Department of Health
LDH's agencies include:- Office of Public Health
- * Monitors food and safe drinking water
- * Fights chronic and communicable disease
- * Ensures readiness for hurricanes, disasters and other threats
- * Manages, analyzes and disseminates public health data
- * Ensures access to vital records for births, deaths, fetal deaths and Orleans Parish marriage records
- * Offers preventive health services
- Office of Behavioral Health
- * Manages and delivers supports and services for citizens with mental illness and addictive disorders
- * Delivers direct care through hospitalization
- * Oversees behavioral health community-based treatment programs through the human services districts and authorities
- Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities
- * Single point of entry into the developmental disabilities services system
- * Oversees public and private residential services and other services for people with developmental disabilities
- Office of Aging and Adult Services
- * Manages and delivers supports and services for senior citizens and people with adult-onset disabilities
- * Provides and enhances services for people in need of long-term care
- Healthy Louisiana
- * Provides medical benefits to low-income individuals and families
- * Expanded under Gov. John Bel Edwards in 2016 through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
- * Medicaid expansion has provided nearly 480,000 previously uninsured residents with coverage, dropping the state's uninsured rate to 8.4% in 2017
Geographic Structure
The Louisiana Department of Health provides public health services and oversight across Louisiana in nine regions.| Region | Headquarters | Area |
| 1* | New Orleans | Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard |
| 2 | Baton Rouge | Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge, West Feliciana |
| 3 | Houma | Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, Terrebonne |
| 4 | Lafayette | Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, Vermilion |
| 5 | Lake Charles | Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis |
| 6 | Pineville | Avoyelles, Catahoula, Concordia, Grant, LaSalle, Rapides, Vernon, Winn |
| 7 | Shreveport | Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine, Webster |
| 8 | Monroe | Caldwell, East Carroll, Franklin, Jackson, Lincoln, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union, West Carroll |
| 9 | Hammond | Livingston, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington |