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| Contact: Tom Hayes 612-873-3337 |
05/13/09 |
Hennepin County Medical Center will eliminate 75 to 100 full-time equivalent positions by the end of June and require administrators, managers, and supervisors to take two days off without pay in 2009. The job cuts are in addition to the 100 positions that were eliminated in February but, unlike the earlier reduction, this time almost all of the positions are filled so more layoffs will be necessary. The medical center also will delay moving forward with the acquisition of property downtown for a new ambulatory building that is part of a long-term master facility plan.
HCMC froze executive pay earlier this year and the pay freeze was extended to all non-union employees in April. A request was sent to union leaders to re-open current collective bargaining agreements for the purpose of discussing a wage freeze.
HCMC lost $7 million in state funding last year due to a reduction in rates of payment for care and rebasing delays approved during the 2008 legislative session. The governor’s unallotment in December resulted in a loss of another $12 million in state funding. In addition to the loss of state funding, inpatient volume was down during the first quarter of 2009 resulting in a loss of approximately $10 million on operations.
“We need to reduce expenses immediately while we continue to plan for the impact of further state funding cuts,” said Lynn Abrahamsen, CEO. “Hospitals like Hennepin that care for a large number of patients on public programs, and operate on a razor-thin margin, have experienced a continuous reduction in rates paid for services that are based on costs that have been frozen by the state at 2002 levels.”
Budget proposals now being considered at the legislature would result in revenues in 2010 that are from $10 to $40 million less than revenues in 2008. Since 2002, the hospital has made productivity improvements and expanded programs to diversify the mix of publicly and commercially insured patients. Even with these efforts, it has been necessary to cut programs, restrict access to services, layoff employees, and delay capital projects, while demand for services overall has continued to increase.
“Obviously this has put tremendous pressure on our hospital and clinics and forced us to make some very difficult decisions,” said Abrahamsen.
As part of a master facility plan to renovate 33-year old hospital units, HCMC had hoped to acquire property adjacent to its downtown facility for an ambulatory care and medical education building. The first phase of the inpatient renovation – the replacement of the medical and surgical intensive care units – will be completed by the end of May, but the acquisition of property that would help address other critical needs has been delayed.
As the state’s largest safety net hospital, Hennepin County Medical Center is a statewide resource fulfilling four critical roles for the people of Minnesota: maintaining 24/7 medical emergency preparedness; teaching tomorrow’s doctors and other health care professionals who will staff clinics and hospitals across the state; supplying top quality Level 1 Trauma, critical burn, and other specialized critical care and services, and offering access to health care for all in need.
Hennepin County Medical Center is a nationally recognized Level 1 Trauma Center with the largest emergency department in Minnesota. The comprehensive academic medical center and public teaching hospital includes a 446-bed acute care hospital and clinics in downtown Minneapolis and primary care clinics on Lake Street in Minneapolis and in Brooklyn Center and Richfield. For 12 years in a row, Hennepin County Medical Center has been listed in the U.S. News & World Report rankings of the top U.S. Hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” report.
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