Lima Ohio -
There is never a good time for a layoff, however this morning 60 managers and support personnel at St. Rita's Health Partners were given notice. Their termination notices were effective immediately.
According to St. Rita's President Bob Baxter the notices were given now so that they were not too close to the holiday season. St. Rita's in Lima employees 27-hundred people. Baxter says 97 percent of the staff will not be directly impacted by the changes.
In a release provided by St. Rita's Health Partners , President and CEO Brian Smith said the changes are the result of changes in the healthcare environment.
Admissions at St Rita's have been down 5 percent this year and consultants are predicting a 15 percent decline during the next ten years. The local trend coincides with industry analysts who say that hospitals across the country are having to make the same difficult choices.
In addition analysts say that the uncertainty of healthcare reform and impending reimbursement changes are creating tremendous pressure on the healthcare industry. They predict there will be a decline for in demand for inpatient services as more procedures move to outpatient settings.
Smith says St. Rita's has adopted lean management techniques from the manufacturing sector which have helped make the delivery of care more efficient.
Smith says the senior leadership team has been working for months to achieve better efficiencies through attrition, retirements and retraining for new positions . But says the hospital could not make all the changes needed. Position eliminations were the last step.
Smith will meet with the media at 3pm today to discuss the changes. Stay tuned to Your News Now at 5 and 6pm for details of today's announcement.
