Becker's Hospital Review

8 CFO / FINANCE 10 health systems laying off workers By Ayla Ellison S everal hospitals and health systems are trimming their workforces due to financial and operational challenges. 1. Commonwealth Health, part of Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, will lay off 245 employees when it closes facilities at the end of October. e health system is closing First Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Kingston, Pa., and its various outpatient centers on Oct. 30. Affected workers are encouraged to apply for open positions they're qualified for at other Commonwealth Health facilities, a system spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review in August. 2. Greenville, N.C.-based East Carolina University Health closed its COVID-19 testing sites at the end of July due to a significant decrease in demand. As a result, the health system is laying off 61 employees. 3. Trinity Health announced July 11 it will close its West Springfield, Mass.-based Trinity Health at Home home healthcare and hospice agency, laying off 60 workers in the process. e layoffs are effective Sept. 5. 4. Garnet Health is closing five physician practices and laying off 29 employees. e health system, based in Orange County, N.Y., said in August that it is working to place affected workers in open positions they qualify for. 5. Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health is laying off 52 employees. e layoffs began in July and affected several directors and managers as well as 19 staffing coordinators. 6. Shriners Hospital for Children made its final round of layoffs in preparation to close a Tampa, Fla., facility. e layoffs are effective Sept. 30. 7. Bozeman (Mont.) Health laid off 28 employees and eliminated 25 open positions, KBZK reported Aug. 2. e health system attributed the layoffs to several factors, including financial uncertainty. 8. Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic is closing Mercy Senior Health Center in Philadelphia in September and laying off 14 workers. e center opened in 2020. 9. Penn Highlands Connellsville (Pa.) Hospital will lay off 27 employees and eliminate 20 additional jobs through retirement and attrition, e Daily Courier reported July 14. 10. Columbus-based OhioHealth is eliminating 637 jobs. e move is part of a plan to contract out some services the system now provides in house. OhioHealth will eliminate information technology and revenue cycle management positions. e health system informed workers of the cuts July 7. n 2022 the most financially difficult year for hospitals, health systems since start of pandemic By Nathan Tucker A new analysis from management consulting firm Kaufman, Hall & Associates indicates hospitals and health systems continue to face intense pressure on staff and resources while also dealing with rising expenses for supplies, drugs and equipment, and the workforce, according to a Sept. 15 special bulletin from the American Hospital Association. These trends are expected to continue through 2022, with hospitals and health systems losing billions of dollars. Left unaddressed, these challenges can jeopardize access to essential healthcare services for patients, according to the bulletin. Challenges in the first half of 2022 tested healthcare organizations with the impact of COVID-19 surges, increased expenses, and a lack of relief funding for economically struggling institutions. As a result, the most optimistic projections for 2022 indicate margins will be down 37 percent compared to pre- pandemic levels. More than half of hospitals are operating in the red, according to Kaufman, Hall & Associates, and forecasts for the remainder of 2022 indicate that margins could be down by 133 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels. More than half of hospitals — 53 percent — are projected to have negative margins for the rest of the year. Furthermore, over two-thirds of hospitals are forecast to operate in the red, with expenses projected to increase throughout 2022, leading to an increase of $135 billion over 2021. Labor expenses are projected to increase by $86 billion, while non-labor expenses are projected to increase by $49 billion. American Hospital Association President and CEO Rick Pollack said that although federal support and relief have tapered off, the fight against COVID-19 has not. "These realities translate into access to services being put in jeopardy. This deserves the immediate attention of policymakers at every level of government to ensure we are able to keep people healthy and maintain essential public services that our communities depend on. America simply can't be strong without its hospitals being strong," said Mr. Pollack n

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