SEATTLE – The healthcare industry, once thought to be recession-proof, is feeling the effects of the deepening economic crisis, and hospital employees are polishing their resumés as layoffs loom.
Swedish Medical Center, the largest nonprofit healthcare provider in Seattle, recently eliminated more than 200 jobs, including four vice president and 22 director positions. The three-hospital organization even fired its chief nursing officer, as well as the senior vice president and chief administrative officer at one facility.
“Eliminating these positions – and saying goodbye to the colleagues who did them – is hard for us all,” said Rod Hochman, MD, Swedish’s CEO. He said the job cuts were a direct result of the national economic downturn and were necessary for Swedish to maintain financial health.
Hochman said the organization also intends to reduce overtime, limit business travel and freeze pay for all non-clinical staff.
Hospitals in Illinois, a state hit especially hard by the recession, are also cutting staff levels.
NorthShore Skokie Hospital in Skokie will eliminate 150 full-time jobs, or nearly 14 percent of its workforce, by the end of March. NorthShore has erased the positions of seven senior executives – including chief executive officer Jim Frankenbach – as well as secretaries, clerical support and business office staff.
Jeffrey Hillebrand, chief operating officer of NorthShore University HealthSystem, insisted the layoffs would not affect patient care, although staff morale might take a hit.
"It has no impact on clinical activities and it involves redundant back office administrative services," he said.
Hospital cuts have hit the Northeast as hard as anywhere else. For instance, this year's New Jersey state budget removed more than $120 million in charity care and other hospital funding.
Les Hirsch, president and CEO of Saint Clare's Health System in Denville, N.J., said his organization was eliminating 180 jobs and taking a variety of measures to ensure the system's stability.
“We've had to make some difficult decisions and changes to improve our financial health," he said. "It's no secret that many industries are feeling the strain of the current downturn. We lack adequate public funding for charity care and other government sponsored programs such as Medicare and Medicaid."
In states like Massachusetts and Maine, economic decline has led to job losses and the elimination of some patient services.
Cambridge Health Alliance, an academic medical system in Cambridge, Mass., is cutting more than 300 jobs, ending inpatient services at one of its hospitals and shutting six medical clinics.
Officials at Eastern Maine Medical Center, a hospital in Bangor, Maine, say their facility has been forced to eliminate 76 jobs, reduce employee overtime and put several expansion projects on hold. EMMC will also reduce hours for some employees and cut business travel.
