Dr. Mary Hopeful CMMC to Share Racetrack Funds

              16-A Sunday, June 3, 1973 THE SHREVEPORT TIMES
At Awards Dinner
Dr. Mary Hopeful CMMC
To Share Racetrack Funds
By MARSHA SHULER
Of The Times Staff
Dr. Charles C. Mary Jr.,
commissioner of the Louisiana
Health, Social and Rehabilita-t
i o n Services Administration,
said last night he was pleased
that local legislators are seeking
means to provide Confederate
Memorial Medical Center with
more funds.
In am a d d r e s s before
Confederate staff and alumni,
he said public hospitals are here
to stay and cautioned against
taking government dollars for
their support.
"As we take government
dollars we get government con-trol,"
he said.
Dr. Mary told the group that
e x p e n s e s increase with the
number of medical students at
such hospitals. "The more a
medical center is involved the
more funds are needed," he
said.
Bills before the legislature for
| splitting up Louisiana Downs
monies were lauded by Dr.
Related Story on Page 1-C
Mary because they would pro-vide
additional funds without
additional tax dollars.
Although he would not cite a
preference on which bill he
supports (Walter 0. Bigby's or
C. K. Carter's), he said one
with a certain per cent designat-ed
for Confederate would be
preferable. Carter's bill sets
aside 6 per cent yearly whereas
Bigby's does not.
In an aside he pledged Dr.
Pattie Van Hook, who was in
attendance, "the total support of
my agency." Dr. Van Hook has
been the s u b j e c t of recent
criticism for alleged expense
v o u c h e r irregularities at
Shreveport-Bossier Health Unit
which she heads.
"Certainly I'm very proud of
the public health officer you
nave here," he said.
Medicaid and Medicare pro-grams
have not eliminated the
necessity of public hospital
facilities, he said. "The great
grandiose federal p r o g r a m s
have not solved the medical
problems of the old or the
poor," Dr. Mary told the group.
"Public hospitals are as viable
today as they ever were."
He said there is no question
that federal p r o g r a m s have
helped the poor's plight but
their monies cover only 30 per
cent of the people the state
public hospitals handle. The rest
is paid with L o u i s i a n a tax
dollars.
Dr. Mary projected by 1975
the position may be reversed
with the federal government
paying 70 per cent.
Changes will come in the
mechanism of pay, he said.
Some patients may be chan-neled
into the private sector.
CHANGES TO COME
Hospitals used as teaching
[grounds for medical schools he
said, will see changes related to
the patient. There might be a
price e x t r a c t e d (from the
school) for the use of patients in
public hospitals as teaching
material, Dr. Mary surmised.
And in the future, he said, the
hospitals will be asking patients
"May we use you to teach?"
Dr. Mary said there also will
come a reorganization of the
medical school-public hospital
setup that will emphasize pa-tient
service rather than teach-
The other change will come in
J serious discussion of what it
costs and who will bear the
expense. "It is difficult to
separate service costs from
teaching costs," he said.
Louisiana public medical cen-!
ters will continue to be great
enters of teaching, he said, and
ill continue to grow.