Oatmeal Healthoatmealhealth.com · public-data estimate, October 2026

Ochsner Health System

Lung screening gap across 28 counties in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi

150,000to260,000adults in its service area qualify for lung cancer screening and are not being screened

About 2,500 people here are diagnosed with lung cancer each year, and 71% are found at a late stage, when it is hardest to treat.

Explore the screening network
TXLAARMSAL
28 counties30 acute care hospitalsService area
180,000 to 320,000adults likely qualify under USPSTF 2021 criteria (estimate)
1,500lung cancer deaths a year in these counties, 2020 to 2024
16.9%of eligible adults screened in these states, vs 18.2% nationally

Estimates from public data only; no patient information. Sources and method below.

Where the eligible adults live

The counties where most of Ochsner Health System's Medicare inpatients live. Darker areas hold more adults who likely qualify, which is where outreach would start. Hover or tap any area for its estimate.

Adults likely eligible, per neighborhood

0+160+220+270+330+400+490+

Acute care hospital in this system

Counties in the service area

CountyStateAdults likely eligibleLung cancer deaths per 100kMedicare screens billed locally, 2024
Jefferson ParishLouisiana21,600 to 46,20033.9998
East Baton Rouge ParishLouisiana18,600 to 37,40030.5643
Orleans ParishLouisiana17,000 to 36,90028.2270
St. Tammany ParishLouisiana14,200 to 27,10033.2303
Caddo ParishLouisiana13,800 to 23,20037.3510
Lafayette ParishLouisiana12,300 to 21,50035.5283
Ouachita ParishLouisiana8,600 to 14,00035.8133
Livingston ParishLouisiana7,700 to 12,40042.7None billed locally
Terrebonne ParishLouisiana6,400 to 10,60045.8198
Lafourche ParishLouisiana6,100 to 9,70039.5108
St. Landry ParishLouisiana6,000 to 8,00046.732
Lauderdale CountyMississippi4,400 to 7,00038.085
Iberia ParishLouisiana4,700 to 6,80045.4136
Vermilion ParishLouisiana3,800 to 5,80043.7None billed locally
Acadia ParishLouisiana4,100 to 5,80057.8None billed locally
Hancock CountyMississippi3,000 to 5,40042.2None billed locally
St. Martin ParishLouisiana3,500 to 5,20038.9None billed locally
St. Mary ParishLouisiana3,500 to 5,20044.6None billed locally
St. Charles ParishLouisiana2,600 to 5,10035.0103
St. Bernard ParishLouisiana2,600 to 4,30045.7None billed locally
St. John the Baptist ParishLouisiana2,300 to 4,10040.2None billed locally
Jefferson Davis ParishLouisiana2,100 to 3,10051.316
Neshoba CountyMississippi1,900 to 2,70048.9None billed locally
Scott CountyMississippi1,800 to 2,50046.5None billed locally
Assumption ParishLouisiana1,600 to 2,50038.8None billed locally
Clarke CountyMississippi1,100 to 1,70041.4None billed locally
Choctaw CountyAlabama920 to 1,40037.1None billed locally
Kemper CountyMississippi540 to 95037.6None billed locally

14 of the 28 counties had no Medicare lung screening reads billed from a local address in 2024. County names link to their Missing Millions page.

What closing the gap would mean

If screening in these counties rose from 16.9% to the national rate of 18.2%, about 2,300 to 4,200 more people would be screened each year.

In the National Lung Screening Trial, low-dose CT screening lowered lung cancer deaths by 20% compared with chest X-ray. Today about 71% of lung cancers here are found at a late stage.

Illustrative estimate: eligible adults (range) times the change in screening rate. Not a forecast or a guarantee.

Each year in these counties

2,500new lung cancers
1,800found at a late stage
1,500lung cancer deaths

NCI and CDC State Cancer Profiles, annual averages.

Screening at Ochsner Health System today

Clinicians at Ochsner Health System locations billed 1,348 low-dose CT lung screening reads to Medicare fee-for-service in 2024. Including Medicare Advantage and other insurers, we estimate about 3,400 to 9,400 screenings a year.

Most adults who qualify see a primary care clinician every year. We count 2,404 primary care clinicians, 50 pulmonologists and 17 thoracic surgeons practicing at Ochsner Health System locations. A 20 pack-year smoking history is often missing from structured EHR fields, so many eligible patients are never flagged.

CMS Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners 2024 (CPT 71271); clinicians matched to Ochsner Health System by practice address using the AHRQ Compendium of U.S. Health Systems 2023, so reads billed by outside radiology groups are not included. The all-payer estimate scales Medicare fee-for-service by the local Medicare Advantage share (60%, CMS) and, at the high end, by the share of eligible adults under 65 (64%).

30 acute care hospitals

  • Ochsner Clinic FoundationNew Orleans, LA
  • Lafayette General Medical CenterLafayette, LA
  • Ochsner LSU Health ShreveportShreveport, LA
  • Ochsner Rush Medical CenterMeridian, MS
  • Ochsner Medical Center - Baton RougeBaton Rouge, LA
  • Ochsner Medical Center -NorthshoreSlidell, LA
  • Iberia Medical CenterNew Iberia, LA
  • Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport-St Mary Medical CentShreveport, LA
  • Ochsner Medical Center-KennerKenner, LA
  • Ochsner St. MaryMorgan City, LA
  • Ochsner LSU Health MonroeMonroe, LA
  • Southern Regional Medical CorpHouma, LA

And 18 more acute care hospitals.

Find them, reach them, give radiologists a second opinion

LungIQ Find

Reads clinical notes, diagnoses and medications in the EHR and returns a ranked list of patients likely eligible, including those whose pack-year history is missing. Start with a CSV export refreshed every 1, 3 or 6 months, or connect through FHIR or HL7.

LungNAV Reach

An AI patient navigator that texts and calls patients in 70+ languages, answers questions about the scan, and hands each patient to your scheduling team or nurse navigators with a call summary.

LungAI Second opinion

Gives radiologists a malignancy risk score for each nodule, factoring in change since the prior scan, inside the PACS and CADe software they already use. The radiologist makes the final call.

LungAI is an investigational medical device and has not been cleared by FDA. It is not commercially available in the United States.

How we estimate the gap

Modeled estimates from public data. They are not a count of Ochsner Health System patients and contain no patient information.

  • Service area: CMS Hospital Service Area File 2025 (counties within 120 miles of a system hospital holding 80% of its Medicare inpatients, plus any county with at least 1%); hospitals from the AHRQ Compendium of U.S. Health Systems, 2023.
  • Eligible adults, low estimate: Oatmeal Health Missing Millions (Census 2025 population, CDC PLACES smoking, USPSTF 2021).
  • Eligible adults, high estimate: University of Minnesota National Lung Cancer Screening Estimates (Haynes 2026), which also counts former smokers.
  • Screening rate: American Lung Association, State of Lung Cancer 2025.
  • Lung cancer cases and deaths: NCI and CDC State Cancer Profiles (incidence 2019 to 2023, deaths 2020 to 2024).
  • Screening volume: CMS Medicare Physician and Other Practitioners, 2024; CMS Medicare Advantage State/County Penetration, September 2026.

LungAI is an investigational medical device and has not been cleared by FDA. Oatmeal Health is preparing a 510(k) premarket notification. LungAI is not commercially available in the United States.

See Ochsner Health System's own numbers

In a 30 minute review we replace these public estimates with counts from your own records and agree on what a first program would look like.

Request a private screening review