By Kyle Roberts and Malcolm Butler
With Tuesday’s announcement that Allegiance Management Health will be purchasing Green Clinic and joining forces with Northern Louisiana Medical Center, the overriding question that arises is what does this mean for the future of healthcare in Lincoln Parish.
It’s no secret that Lincoln Parish is one of the fastest growing communities in the state of Louisiana, both residentially and economically.
Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker said back in July that there is almost $200 million of economic development on the books in the city of Ruston alone, an illustration of the external purview of the community.
“For a town our size to have that much outside development is unreal,” said Mayor Ronny Walker back in an interview with the LPJ in July. “People see Ruston as the place to be. If you want to invest money in a good solid place in North Louisiana, it’s Ruston.”
Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on infrastructure within our parish and city. Lincoln Parish boasts two Division I institutes in Louisiana Tech University and Grambling State University. And then add amenities such as parks, lakes, bike trails and the Ruston Sports Complex.
Life for Lincoln Parish residents is abundant.
So how does Tuesday’s announcement help with the healthcare component of this quality of life equation?
“Ten years ago when I became mayor, I realized if we were going to grow and active and progressive and vibrant city, we needed to have good healthcare,” said Walker. “That’s always been a focus and concern of mine. I know health care the last few years has been very difficult for all communities.
“I hope this acquisition helps us. We are excited about the potential of what could happen with the Green Clinic and Northern Louisiana Medical Center coming together.”
Lincoln Parish Police Jury President Glenn Scriber echoed Walker’s sentiments.
“Quality healthcare is paramount for any community,” said Scriber. “With the growth of Lincoln Parish, it is crucial that we are open minded of the healthcare needs in our community and that we take the necessary steps to make sure our residents are provided for in the future.”
As news of the acquisition spread throughout the employees at both NLMC and Green Clinic and then became public as first announced by the Lincoln Parish Journal, the question as to what this means for the future of healthcare was prominent.
“We will have a solid healthcare community that we have not had before where we are all working together,” said Northern Louisiana Medical Center CEO Kathy Hall. “Lincoln Parish is a gold mine, and if we can all work together, we can have a true healthcare hub. Good things are going to happen – it’s exciting and I think we’re going to have great outcomes, and it will be great for this community.”
Hall said that when Green Clinic went on the market in the summer of 2023, there was immediate interest by Allegiance Health Management of acquiring it.
“The best thing that can happen for our community is for our healthcare to come together,” said Hall. “We have recruited a lot of doctors into (our system recently). The state of reality of when Allegiance came to Ruston, the goal has always been to have a great relationship with Green Clinic. We have been working with Green Clinic since 2019 to help with the recruiting process and things of that nature.”
Northern Louisiana Medical Center’s current structure was built in 1962. And although the facility has had renovations over the decades, there is no doubt that a new facility is needed in Ruston.
Allegiance Health Management purchased a 35.5 acre tract of land in 2022 from James Davison at the corner of East Commerce and Celebrity Drive with plans of building a new full service hospital.
Hall said that although the plans were put on hold, now that the acquisition of Green Clinic is almost complete, they will return their focus to building a new hospital that includes larger rooms for patients and ICU units as well as state-of-the-art operating and treatment rooms.
“The reality of what has been going on the last year, we were waiting to see what happened,” said Hall. “Rock (Bordelon) would not have wanted to invest that much money if another entity came into the community. We bought Bobby Ensminger’s practice in October of 2023 from St. Francis. At that time, we started working on developing an expansion, and Green Clinic went on the market.
“We had to halt to make sure we were the entity that ended up with Green Clinic. The plan is to bring Green Clinic and the hospital to work together. It’s no secret that in the past the two have not worked well together, but being able to do that now will allow us to move forward. Rock has full intentions to build the hospital here.”
Green Clinic physician Shane Phillips said he believes its important for Ruston to have a quality, full service hospital.
“Northern Louisiana Medical Center is our hospital of Ruston, and it is the only hospital that is full service in our community,” said Phillips. “I don’t believe it does Ruston any good to have other hospital systems putting clinics in Ruston and then shipping patients outside of our area.
“It would be different if another system wanted to build a full service hospital in Ruston, but the bottom line is we need a hospital that is fully supported by our community. We need them to be invested fully in our community. So I hope this (acquisition) leads to us getting a brand new full service hospital in our community.”
Lori Keen, CEO/CFO of Green Clinic, said the Green Clinic brand would remain the same moving forward.
“Green Clinic will remain Green Clinic,” said Keen. “It’s an asset purchase, and Green Clinic will still be existing. It will be a seamless transition for the patients We don’t have to worry about filling out records or billing any differently. It will be billed as Green Clinic.”
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