WE ARE PEOPLE WHO CARE

Expanding our Vision for Personalized Care

The history of Care Associates begins with Dr. Ricardo Febry’s journey, which started with his training and certification in Internal Medicine at Tulane University School of Medicine from 1991 to 1994. After his training, he practiced ambulatory and hospital internal medicine with a medical group at Touro Infirmary in Uptown New Orleans from 1994 to 2001, while also practicing emergency medicine in various hospitals across Greater New Orleans until 2002.

In 1996, Dr. Febry encountered the challenges of caring for his father, who was diagnosed with a terminal illness. His father’s passing in 1997 profoundly influenced Dr. Febry, inspiring him to focus on elderly care. Following this loss, Dr. Febry accepted the role of medical director at Hospice of Greater New Orleans (HGNO) to gain experience in working with a hospice team and assisting patients and families through the end-of-life process. He left HGNO in 2004 to co-found Hospice Associates of New Orleans (HANO) with the aim of introducing stronger physician involvement in hospice care, resulting in better comfort and satisfaction for patients. In 2014, he became the sole owner of HANO and oversaw a comprehensive review and revision of its policies and procedures to ensure compliance with CMS standards for hospice agencies across the United States and to elevate the standard of care for patients and caregivers.

This work was completed within three years and validated in 2019 when HANO achieved ACHC certification for its high-quality services. In 2022, HANO successfully revalidated its ACHC certification despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and National Emergency Declaration.

Throughout these years, Dr. Febry developed his senior care concept concurrently. In 2001, he established a solo internal medicine practice exclusively dedicated to providing primary and hospital medical care for elderly residents of long-term care facilities in Greater New Orleans. His practice quickly expanded, necessitating its organization into Internal Medicine Consultants (IMC) in 2004 to accommodate growth. IMC specialized in caring for physically frail, elderly individuals with complex, chronic health issues, providing a comprehensive care model designed for their convenience and comfort. The primary care team, led by Dr. Febry, delivered care at the patient’s location, whether it was a home, assisted living center, skilled nursing facility, nursing home, or other long-term care facility.

IMC partnered with East Jefferson General Hospital (EJGH) in 2007 to establish the hospital’s first dedicated hospitalist program. This partnership improved EJGH’s length of stay from over 6 days to approximately 4.5 days, significantly enhancing hospital efficiency and throughput.

When EJGH was acquired by LCMC Health in 2020, IMC merged with Tulane University Medical Group. Tulane retained the IMC concept for senior care, rebranding it as Tulane Doctors Connected Care (TDCC), and Dr. Febry served as the unit’s first Medical Director through 2023.

After more than two decades of caring for thousands of elderly individuals, Dr. Febry transitioned from his role leading TDCC at Tulane to engage full-time as Chief Medical Officer for HANO in 2023. Later that year, Dr. Febry rebranded HANO into Care Associates to address the growing need for integration of services for seniors facing serious illness and other care access challenges before they required hospice care.

Today, Care Associates provides a comprehensive suite of services including curative medical, palliative, and hospice care, along with other non-medical services, supporting seniors facing issues of safety at home, isolation, frailty, and limited access to coordinated services tailored to their needs in Greater New Orleans and South Louisiana.

As a registered Medicare Part A and Part B provider, Care Associates supports seniors at every stage of their journey and offers a continuum of physician-led medical and non-medical case management services under one trusted organization.