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service and document imaging. He has previously
worked for Pinnacle Business Solutions and Loui-
siana Medicare Services.
As a member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve,
Couvillon attained the rank of colonel and served
as senior military advisor to the U.S. Naval Con-
struction Force. He also served asmilitary provin-
cial governor of Wasit Province in Iraq. Couvillon
received his Bachelor of Science degree in man-
agement from LSU.
AG Prevails in Fraud Trial
of Drug Company
Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to pay
Louisiana $8.5 Million to resolve the fraudulent
drug pricing claims against them. The agreement
was announced in the 19th Judicial District Court
before Judge Wilson Fields, just as Louisiana was
about to give its opening statement to the jury
panel. The suit accused Watson Pharmaceutical
of committing fraud upon the Louisiana Medic-
aid program, violating the Louisiana Unfair Trade
Practices and Consumer Protection Act and Loui-
siana’sMedical Assistance Programs Integrity Law.
Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, who person-
ally selected the jurors in this case, said, “We are
prepared to present these fraud cases to Louisi-
ana juries. Louisiana will not tolerate fraud being
perpetrated on its Medicaid program.” Caldwell
added, “We have numerous other fraud cases
currently pending against other pharmaceutical
companies, and we are proceeding to recover
funds wrongfully taken from this state.”
Goux Elected to LNHA Board
The Louisiana Nursing
Home Association
(LNHA) announced
Jeremy Goux as
the newly elected
boardmember serv-
ing as Vice President in
LNHA Region I. The LNHA
Board of Directors carries out the objectives and
purposes of the association, upholding its mis-
sion, purpose, values and direction.
Goux comes to theboardwithextensive legal and
business talent. He is an attorney at Wynne, Goux
& Lobello, a law firm in Covington, Louisiana. With
nearly16yearsof lawexperience, Gouxholds a law
degree from Loyola School of Law. He previously
held positions with St. Tammany Parish District
Attorney’sOffice andmost recentlywas appointed
as Magistrate for the City of Covington, presiding
over the Covington Mayor’s Court. Most notably,
hewas intensely involved in thedefenseof St. Rita’s
Nursing Home, following Hurricane Katrina.
Local
LPHI and Tulane Launch HSARC
In response to growing local and national interest
in health systemperformance improvement, two
New Orleans-based public health organizations,
the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) and
Tulane University’s School of Public Health and
Tropical Medicine (SPHTM), recently partnered
to launch the Health Systems Analytics Research
Center (HSARC).
As the first center of its kind in the region, HSARC
will focus on improving health system perfor-
mance and efficiency through systematic analy-
sis of health data related to human, technologi-
cal, and social factors affecting health outcomes.
Sample projects HSARC will be involved with
include analysis of frequent use of emergency
departments using Health Information Exchange
(HIE) data, examination of pharmacy data to
study the effects of medication on patient health
outcomes, and the study of how medical homes
impact quality of clinical care.
Through the co-directorship of Dr. AnjumKhur-
shid, LPHI’s Director of Health Systems, and Dr.
Lizheng Shi, Associate Professor with Tulane’s
Department of Global Health Systems and Devel-
opment, the HSARCwill provide advanced analyt-
ics capacity to enhance evidence-based decision
making affecting public health, health policy,
and health systems. The HSARC will also create
opportunities for experts from different disci-
plines (academic, policy, and clinical research-
ers) to work collaboratively on issues related to
health data analysis and its implications.
HSARC will provide a range of professional
services for health plan administrators, govern-
ment agencies, foundations, and healthcare
organizations. Services include conducting
health analytics, generating reports based on
customer needs, business analytics and optimi-
zation services, data integration, and advanced
data techniques including datamining, predictive
modeling, regression analysis, propensity score
matching, and simulation models to discover
insights that impact practice and quality of care.
Professional development and training oppor-
tunities for junior researchers and students at
Tulane University and other educational insti-
tutions will also be developed, along with com-
munity partnerships to advance translational
research using data from health care organiza-
tions, information exchanges, insurance claims,
health services operations, and other sources
to support improvements in population health.
LSUHSC School of Public
Health Accredited
The Council on Education for Public Health
(CEPH) has accredited LSU Health Sciences Cen-
ter New Orleans’ School of Public Health for a
five-year term – the maximum awarded for an
initial accreditation review. Dr. Elizabeth Fon-
tham, Dean of LSU Health Sciences Center New
Orleans’ School of Public Health, and Dr. Larry
Hollier, Chancellor of LSU Health Sciences Center
New Orleans, were notified after the CEPH Board
of Councilors approved the accreditation.
The LSUHSC School of Public Health, the only
public school of public health in Louisiana, is
LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans’ newest
school. Founded in2003-04, it features a student to
faculty ratioof 1.5 to 1.0, a graduation rate exceed-
ing 90%, nationally and internationally recognized
researchand teaching faculty, high impact service
programs, and tuition among the lowest of the
public health schools in the Gulf South.
The LSUHSC School of Public Health offers five
Master of Public Health, one Master of Science,
and three PhDdegrees among five academic pro-
grams – Behavioral &CommunityHealth Sciences,
Biostatistics, Environmental & Occupational
Health Sciences, Epidemiology, andHealth Policy
& Systems Management.