Plans to build a new state hospital connected to a new VA Hospital have been on the drawing board for many months.

But has anything changed now that the state has a new governor and legislature?

It has been 2½ years without Charity Hospital. When Katrina hit, talk began about the need for a new state hospital, a place to train future doctors and test and discover new medicines and treatments.

But there is still no groundbreaking, only questions about its size and financing.

“If they go out with a business plan that doesn't make sense, they won't be able to sell the bonds to build this hospital,” Governor Bobby Jindal said. “So, they need to have a business plan that will stand up to the scrutiny of the investors that will buy these bonds to make sure there are no delays.”

Said LSU Health Science Center Chancellor Larry Hollier, “Every day of delay of construction increases the cost by $100 thousand a day. That's $3 million a month increase in cost just for the delay.”

Top administrators of LSU Health Sciences Center said they are not that concerned about the size of the hospital, just that they need the academic facility to attract future doctors to practice, teach and train.

“Unfortunately, we are still seeing the consequences of the loss of our major teaching hospital of Charity once again,” Hollier said. “While it's better than last year, we're still right at only 50 percent of the students staying here in Louisiana to train.”

LSU’s dean of the School of Medicine said it’s difficult to compete with areas outside the region because of the lack of teaching and practice space.

“Add to that the uncertainties about a hospital and this makes it very, very difficult for us,” Steve Nelson said.

In addition, sources tell Eyewitness News that there also has been talk about an idea that would take the new state hospital away from the downtown area and away from sharing space and services with a new planned Veterans Administration Hospital.

“I've only heard that in rumors, and I hear 1,000 rumors on my job,” Gov. Jindal said. “Bottom line is this – the state is still committed to a downtown hospital. It is absolutely not delayed. The VA is still going through their process. The state continues to be committed. Nothing has slowed that down.”

Ochsner would not comment.

The VA Medical Center would only offer a statement, saying, “The VA remains committed to building a state-of-the-art facility in metropolitan New Orleans to ensure that veterans receive top-notch care. The funding to accomplish this critical goal is secure and we are making substantial progress on the replacement hospital project.”

The VA would not say, however, where in the metro area that the hospital would be built. LSU said Ochsner-Baptist Uptown is not big enough and hopes the decision to move forward downtown will be made soon.

“Very clearly the decision lies with the Governor,” Hillier said. “He needs to decide what he wants to fund, how he wants to fund this and when we're going to move forward.”

Sources also said that LSU believes the hospital needs to have 480 beds so that income from private insurance patients can help support the cost. The state wants 100 fewer beds.