(Editor’s note: This article is written by Robin Smith of The Caledonian-Record, which first published it July 10, 2013.)
NEWPORT CITY — Facing a second year of deficits, North Country Hospital cut 19 employees and reduced hours for another three on Tuesday.
Six of the people affected work in the occupational medicine and psychiatry clinics owned by the hospital, which are closing in 90 days when those jobs will be eliminated.
The cutbacks are intended to save $1.3 million as part of a reduction in expenses to make up for a $1.6 million operating loss this year out of a budget of $80 million. The cuts affected 3 percent of the 600 who work for the hospital and its clinics.
NCH President and CEO Claudio Fort said the 25-bed critical care hospital could not continue to run a deficit and keep serving the 30,000 people that depend on it.
Additional savings are expected through attrition and voluntary early retirement, to put the hospital in the black next year and leave a two-percent operating margin or safety net for the hospital’s long-term viability, Fort said.
NCH joins hospitals across Vermont that have cut budgets in the past year as federal and state revenue declines and patients have cut back on health care to avoid out-of-pocket costs.
Fort spent all day Tuesday talking individually with the employees whose jobs were affected and spoke about the cutbacks with The Record early Tuesday evening.
“This has been a very painful day for all of us at the hospital,” he said. “The employees were very gracious throughout this. These people care about the hospital and about each other.”
Employees were given severance packages based on their years with the hospital and were offered counseling and placement assistance to help them find new jobs, he said.
Most of the cutbacks in positions were in non-clinical staff, from administration, human resources, accounting and the facilities maintenance departments, Fort said.
The only clinical staff affected were the two doctors and staff members at the two clinics. No floor nurses or clinical staff elsewhere in the hospital’s practices were affected, he said.
Psychiatry services will be offered through Northeast Kingdom Human Services or BAART. Some occupational medicine services, like a physical for tractor trailer drivers, will be offered by local primary care physicians, Fort said.
The hospital will continue to seek ways to save money, Fort said.
“Our health care system is undergoing a fundamental restructuring,” he stated in a press release.
“North Country Hospital is being impacted by decreased demand for services and reduced reimbursements,” Fort stated.
“The intent of these actions is to make necessary reductions in expenses while ensuring patient care is not affected by focusing mostly on non-clinical areas.”
“In this changing health care environment, we are responsible for sustaining and reinventing our hospital as thoughtfully as we can. The changes we’ve made today are difficult, but necessary and the responsible way for us to move forward to continue to meet our mission to the patients of our community,” Fort stated.
One employee, Scott Wheeler of Derby, said Fort told him early Tuesday morning that his 20-hour a week position in the community relations department was eliminated effective immediately.
Wheeler, who wrote publicity for local newspapers and hospital publications about new personnel and procedures at the hospital, said he received a severance package.
Wheeler declined to say how much he received but said it was more than two weeks of pay.
“Today is a very sad day at the hospital,” he said.
The cutbacks come after officials told the Green Mountain Care Board in June that North Country Hospital is involved in strategic planning to identify what is essential for services in the Orleans County area and what is not.
Kathy Austin, chairman of the NCH board of directors, told the GMC Board that it is “astounding” to see the uncertainty and developments in the health care industry.
They asked the GMC Board not to add to that uncertainty and to provide a safety net for community hospitals.
Wheeler, publisher of Vermont’s Northland Journal, is a former legislator who served on the House committee on health care.
“I knew health care costs could not continue at this rate,” he said. “I predicted this coming several years ago.”
He hopes the hospital will survive the changes in the health care industry under the federal health care law and Vermont’s move toward a modified single-payer plan.
Despite his job loss, Wheeler said he enjoyed working at the hospital and said employees were treated and paid fairly there.
But he said the number one mission of the hospital is patient care, not to look after each employee.
“This is only the beginning of far more extensive things in the world of health care,” Wheeler said, predicting that the federal Affordable Care Act often called Obamacare will have a huge impact on local hospitals and small town care.
