UMass Memorial CEO commits to avoiding layoffs, furloughs

Photo | Grant Welker UMass Memorial Health Care President and CEO Eric Dickson

Write a Comment

By Grant Welker

UMass Memorial Health Care has taken a financial beating during the coronavirus pandemic, as it, like other hospital systems, has forgone revenue-generating procedures during the outbreak.

But the Worcester-based system is committed to not laying off or furloughing any workers despite the financial hit, President and CEO Eric Dickson said in a staff memo Wednesday.

"While this decision to retain our caregivers did increase pressure on our financial health, we as a senior leadership team – with the endorsement of our board of trustees – felt that was the right thing to do," Dickson wrote.

UMass Memorial has received some federal financial aid, Dickson said, but not nearly enough to cover costs related to the pandemic. UMass Memorial, though, is in a better position than many other safety-net hospitals, which tend to treat more patients on Medicaid, Medicare or without insurance, than others because of previous financial moves, he said.

Dickson said in late March a sale last summer of a pharmacy management joint venture has allowed UMass Memorial to weather the pandemic financially. The $208 million it brought in from that sale was planned to pay for equipment and facility upgrades, but the hospital network's investment committee hadn't met between the time of the sale and the pandemic hitting, leaving the money available for emergency use.

"That probably saved us $50 million or so," Dickson said in an online forum with UMass Memorial employees in March. "We can't go on forever in terms of our current condition, but we don't see any near-term problems," he added.

Others in the medical field have had furloughs, including at UMass Medical School and Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester.

The Worcester medical school in a staff memo in April said it would furlough as many as 100 employees for possibly up to six months, as well as institute a hiring freeze and require employees to use accrued vacation time for hours they're unable to work.

Saint Vincent said it had more than 50 nurses take what it described as voluntary furloughs. The Worcester hospital has also redeployed some nurses to allow the hospital to direct resources to where they're most needed during the pandemic.