I just wanted to add this to the story that I just entered below.

Connecticut Health Association spokeswoman Jennifer Barrows said there has been a shift across the state since the 1980s to providing more outpatient services, yet between 1994 and 2005 there has been a rise in both inpatient and outpatient services.

Between 2004 and 2005, Barrows said inpatient admissions for all of the state’s acute care hospitals increased from 413,972 to 420,856 and in-patient days from 2.02 million in 2004 to 2.06 million in 2005.

Within those statistics, however, Barrows said CHA is seeing dramatic shifts from hospital to hospital, depending on community demographics. Insurance co-pays, Medicare reimbursements, and an increase in uninsured and underinsured patients all play a role, she said.

New Milford Hospital is far from alone in struggling with financial viability, Barrrows said.

“Most of our hospitals are fiscally fragile and operate on very thin margins,” she said. “Staff expenses represent the largest portion of a hospital budget, so it is often an area targeted to keep a hospital running.”

Now, if the hospital is struggling financially, why haven’t they laid off any of their senior executives? Someone on a website who knows the facility well, pointed out that they have six VPs! Do you think that they could manage with 4 or 5 VPs, and keep the staff who actually do patient care?

These are the jobs they are cutting:

The cuts

New Milford Hospital plans to lay off 22 people and cut the hours of four others.

Nurses in these departments will be affected:

{”Graphic text”/}n Endoscopy

n One-day surgery
# Blood collection
# Cardiac rehabilitation
# Operating room
# Clinical resource management

Remaining layoffs will come from:
# Accounts receivable
# Purchasing
# Patient accounts
# Admitting
# Secretary
# Unit clerks
# Employee health
# Laboratory

Do you see any executives among them? Any of the people who will probably be getting their 7 figure bonus this year?

As another bulletin member pointed, they may just be shuffling senior people out the door, and will eventually replace those laid off. Replace them with lower waged personnel, and offering less benefits.

Cool. Glad to see that there is still a powerful disconnect between hospital executives, their staff and the public.

So much for the great nursing shortage. As I’ve often preached, the shortage is merely a shortage of desirable places to work. There are hospitals with waiting lists of nurses who want to come to work for them, and not because they are the only employer in town. But here’s a typical story, that echoes the scenario of the early 1990s:

From NewTimesLive.com:

NEW MILFORD — Registered nurse Joanne Chapin is afraid New Milford Hospital administration’s cost-cutting decision to lay off 22 employees and reduce hours for four others will not only hurt those losing jobs but the hospital’s reputation as a good place to work.

After negotiations with administrators, the nurses’ union president said Wednesday it appears one full-time operating room nurse and a part-time blood collection nurse will lose their jobs, six will be forced to take reduced hours and at least two will have to switch from day to midnight shifts. In total, the hospital administration is reducing the nursing staff by 122 hours in endoscopy, one-day surgery, cardiac rehabilitation, the operating room, clinical resource management and the autologous blood department.

“In the nursing community, this really hurts our reputation, and that’s something we are going to have to work to overcome,” said Chapin, a 15-year veteran who represents the hospital’s 175 full- and part-time nursing staff. Skilled nurses are in demand, and this layoff could adversely affect future recruitment, she said.

The hospital administration disagrees. Administration officials said this week they are still seeking staff for select positions, and regularly accept applications from experienced nurses and other personnel. Five clerical and secretarial staff who are losing jobs will have an opportunity to be moved into vacancies in other departments, officials said.

If you notice, quotes from hospital officials are invariably the same. The same stupid, meaningless drivel which conveniently ignores the reality of the situation. If you take a look at the article, you’ll see what I mean. Now, in this day and age of the so-called great shortage, this facility is laying off people, but yet still seeking staff for select positions? What kind of mental vacuum is that? In other words, they don’t think that the fact that they are laying off both nurses and support staff will affect their ability to recruit nurses for “select positions.” Or reducing the hours of others. What are these people smoking?