In a YouTube Video presentation, Charleston Area Medical Center CEO David Ramsey announced that the enterprise would lay off 300 employees by the end of the year. While 56 non-clinical jobs remain unstaffed due to the hiring freeze, Ramsey is looking to regular job attrition rather than layoffs to accomplish the required reduction-in-force.
Projected losses at the Medical Center are trending toward $40 million due to the expenses of the electronic health records conversion to meet Medicare requirements. Ramsey citied some rather shocking statistics that patients with commercial insurance are down from 20 percent to 17 percent which translates into about a $50 million loss to the bottom line. Other causes cited were increased governmental insurance with lower reimbursement rates, the nursing shortage, and increases in both technology and medicines.
Of course, the statement included the standard yadda, yadda, yadda -- “These decisions were not made lightly, but it is CAMC’s obligation as the largest provider of critical care in our region to remain sustainable for the future.”
The bottom line is that the Medical Center will expect the remaining employees to pick up the slack or as David Ramsey says, “We will also be requiring that each department and cost center maintain 100 percent productivity beginning on August 1, 2017.”
Are you asking yourself, Am I Next?