Saint Vincent Hospital Lays Off 60
Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester laid off 60 employees effective last night, eliminating 117 positions in total, a hospital spokesman confirmed this morning.
The layoffs range from nursing personnel to personal care attendants, technologists and some management positions, said Vanguard Health Care spokesman Dennis Irish, who called the layoffs "unfortunate and regrettable."
Vanguard operates Saint Vincent and Metro West Medical Center. Irish said there are no plans for staff reductions at Metro West.
The net 117 positions at Saint Vincent were eliminated through a combination of layoffs, attrition and reductions in work hours. Only non-union employees will receive severance packages. Irish said some employees may bid on open positions that were not eliminated. He could not give an exact breakdown of how many union and non-union personnel were laid off.
Irish said declining revenues, which he attributed to the economy, were the reason for the decision.
"There has been a kind of a universal reduction in the utilization of elective procedures, surgeries, lab work, [and] diagnostics," he said.
Irish could not say how long the hospital has been seeing that trend, but said it varies over time.
The cost of health care for patients is another factor, he said.
An increasing shift in co-pays and deductibles from companies to their employees has resulted in higher out-of-pocket expenses, which causes some to elect not to undergo medical procedures.
The layoffs represent about 3 percent of the hospital's staff, which is now 1,800, approximately the same number of employees Saint Vincent had in 2009, Irish said.
"Volume had increased," he said. "Now it's decreased again and we've got to change our employment, unfortunately."
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