KEY TAKEAWAYS: Allegiance Health System signs letter of intent to affiliate with Ochsner Health Agreement is not a merger; AHS will remain independent Collaboration aims to improve access and quality of care in rural Louisiana Ochsner to provide technology, specialty support, research, and tel emedicine resources In a move to improve patient care in rural Louisiana communities, Allegiance Health System (AHS) and its network of hospital facilities have signed a letter of intent to enter into an affiliation with Ochsner Health. AHS is a Bossier City-based HMO that operates hospitals and medical facilities across rural Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi markets, including 11 hospitals and 48 clinics across Louisiana, and programs in hospice, home health, and behavorial services. Both parties made it clear the affiliation is not a merger or acquisition, allowing AHS to remain independent and maintain its ownership, operations, financial, and management responsibilities. Instead, a collaboration will help ensure that “patients in rural Louisiana receive the same level of quality, innovation, and expertise found in major metropolitan centers,” said Rock Bordelon, President, Allegiance Health System. “By aligning with Ochsner, we are strengthening both the quality and the sustainability of healthcare delivery across the region,” Bordelon added. Although terms have not been finalized, the affiliation will likely be similar to Ochsner’s dozens of affiliation agreements with hospitals and clinics across Louisiana. For example, Ochsner would provide Allegiance medical staff with shared clinical research, best practices in various speciality areas, along with access to Ochsner’s technology and digital tools, such as the EPIC Electronic Health Records platform. Ochsner could also connect local care teams to specialists through advanced telemedicine programs (such as telestroke), grant AHS staff and patients online access to Ochsner physicians, and if needed, refer AHS patients to Ochsner hospitals for specialty and high-acuity services. Ochsner could also support AHS patients managing chronic or complex health challenges through innovative care models. “This collaboration is founded on a mutual commitment to serving patients and enhancing the delivery of healthcare services in rural Louisiana through collaboration and shared expertise,” said Pete November, president CEO of Ochsner Health. “By combining resources and leveraging technology, we are expanding access to care, supporting local providers, and ensuring patients can receive the right care at the right time, close to home.” Ochsner Health is the leading nonprofit healthcare provider in Louisiana, Mississippi, and across the Gulf South, delivering care at 47 hospitals and through more than 370 health and urgent care centers. In 2024, more than 40,000 team members and 4,900 employed and affiliated physicians at Ochsner cared for 1.6 million people from every state in the nation and 63 countries. In addition to operating 48 clinics across Louisiana, AHS operates 11 hospitals in the state: Arcadia, DeQuincy, Eunice, Leesville, Many, Marksville, Minden, Oakdale, Ruston, Winnfield, and Ville Platte; and one in Greenville, Miss. AHS also delivers home health services in Campti, Coushatta, DeQuincy, DeRidder, Many, Marksville, Oakdale, and Ville Platte; hospice in Ruston and Marksville; and behavoiral services in nine rural communities, including in DeQuincy, Magnolia, Many, Marksville, Minden, Monroe, Plainview, Ruston and Ville Platte. ...read more read less