St. Edward cuts 64 jobs

St. Edward Mercy Health System announced Wednesday (April 15) that 64 full-time
jobs will be cut immediately. Hospital officials said a “vast majority” of the jobs cut were non-direct care givers.

“As the volumes in our hospitals have been low, St. Edward Mercy, like many healthcare institutions across the nation, is facing cost challenges,” noted the statement from St. Edward.   
 
Severance packages “proportional to their tenure” will be available to those losing their jobs.

This is the second area job cut announcement in as many days. On Tuesday (April 14), Summit Medical Center in Van Buren announced 10 job cuts.

According to the hospital statement, St. Edward Mercy instituted a hiring freeze in March, but that move failed to address the financial losses. So the move to cut 64 jobs was made.

“Professional, non-professional, direct-care givers, and support staff areas will be impacted through this action. There was a concerted effort to avoid impacting direct-care givers,” noted the statement.

St. Edward officials stressed that hospitals across the country face financial challenges, and noted that under-utilization of hospital services, increased costs of charity care and the increase in unpaid patient accounts.
 
“This is a difficult time for everyone, and there has been much deliberation about this decision,” said Jeff Johnston, president and CEO of St. Edward. “Our national economic conditions impact all of us.”
 
St. Edward states that it has 1,600 full-time workers (after the cuts) and serves more than 400,000 residents in 13 regional counties. The St. Edward Health System also includes three satellite hospital: Mercy Hospital/Turner Memorial in Ozark; North Logan Mercy Hospital in Paris, and Mercy Hospital of Scott County in Waldron. Also, the hospital operates clinics in Fort Smith, Mansfield, Paris, Van Buren and Waldron.

The U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that as of Nov. 30, 2008, 107 hospitals had reported mass layoffs, defined as 50 or more unemployment claims filed against one company at one time, according to a report from the American Medical Association.

An AHA survey conducted in October 2008 found that 53% of the 736 hospitals responding were considering staff cutbacks due to financial stress.