Most of LSU's charity hospitals and clinics have been turned over to private managers. But federal officials still haven't decided whether they'll agree to the financing plans that are being used to pay the new hospital operators.
Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration expresses confidence that the deals will eventually gain approval from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS. The administration says that these types of complex arrangements take time.
CMS isn't talking about how far apart the two sides are in negotiating final terms.
Privatization deals have taken effect for seven university hospitals and their clinics, with two more pending.
Only one arrangement has received federal approval so far. That deal shuttered LSU's Baton Rouge hospital and transferred most of its inpatient services to a private hospital.
