GovTech The Detroit Medical Center announced it will furlough 480 employees, while the McLaren Medical Group will cut the hours of many of its 500 doctors, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives.
(TNS) – Even as the coronavirus pandemic roils Michigan’s hospitals — sickening employees, inundating intensive care units and overflowing morgues — these health systems are laying off employees by the hundreds.
The hospitals, and hospital experts, blame declining revenues from lost patient office visits and postponed medical procedures, such as knee or hip replacements, for layoffs and pay cuts.
On Wednesday, the Detroit Medical Center announced it will furlough 480 employees, while the McLaren Medical Group will cut the hours of many of its 500 doctors, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives.
On Wednesday, the Detroit Medical Center announced it will furlough 480 employees, while the McLaren Medical Group will cut the hours of many of its 500 doctors, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives.
A day earlier, Beaumont Health confirmed it would sideline one of its eight hospitals — Beaumont, Wayne — and hold it empty to serve “as a reserve COVID-19 hospital” at an undefined point in the future.
At least 300 workers at Beaumont’s Wayne hospital were laid off, according to the Service Employee International Union’s Healthcare Michigan, which represents about 1,000 employees at three of Beaumont’s hospitals, including Wayne.
And on Monday, the president of the union that represents registered nurses at McLaren Macomb told the Free Press the hospital would lay off 16 to 20 operating and recovery room nurses this week.
While another large Detroit health care provider, the Henry Ford Health System, declined to say whether it was planning layoffs, it released this statement from Brenda Craig?, vice president, integrated communications:
While another large Detroit health care provider, the Henry Ford Health System, declined to say whether it was planning layoffs, it released this statement from Brenda Craig?, vice president, integrated communications:
“There is no question that this pandemic is having a financial effect on our health system and we are continuing to assess the full impact as this crisis evolves. Like other health systems across our region, we are exploring a number of options to stabilize our financial performance including pursuing federal assistance programs and identifying ways to reduce expenses.”
Experts: Revenue centers cut off
Shooshan Danagoulian, assistant professor in the economics department at Wayne State University, said the coronavirus pandemic is having a very sharp, negative impact on hospitals because they depend so heavily on elective and non-emergency care for revenue.
Shooshan Danagoulian, assistant professor in the economics department at Wayne State University, said the coronavirus pandemic is having a very sharp, negative impact on hospitals because they depend so heavily on elective and non-emergency care for revenue.
And with so many workers now unemployed and lacking the health insurance their jobs provided, patients who do show up at the hospital may be unable to pay their bills, she said.
“In this pandemic, hospitals are going to have to find new ways of reducing their costs. Right now, physician groups and hospitals are cutting physicians’ salaries and hours, and administrators are taking pay cuts,” she said.
And they’re also laying off other workers, such as laboratory assistants and patient intake employees.
“Providers overall are feeling like they’re caught between a rock and hard place,” she said. On one hand, they’re “running toward the fire” that is COVID-19, and on the other hand, they’re “having to make these tough financial choices: how to keep their staff, how to pay their staff, and who to let go … hospitals have no good choices for surviving this.”
“Providers overall are feeling like they’re caught between a rock and hard place,” she said. On one hand, they’re “running toward the fire” that is COVID-19, and on the other hand, they’re “having to make these tough financial choices: how to keep their staff, how to pay their staff, and who to let go … hospitals have no good choices for surviving this.”
The Detroit Medical Center is especially hard hit, with 480 employees to be furloughed.
In a written statement released Wednesday, CEO Audrey Gregory said the employees of the eight-hospital system “remain on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” but she noted that the state’s stay-at-home orders have forced some operations to be “temporarily closed or ramped down.”
In a written statement released Wednesday, CEO Audrey Gregory said the employees of the eight-hospital system “remain on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic,” but she noted that the state’s stay-at-home orders have forced some operations to be “temporarily closed or ramped down.”
Those restrictions ban elective or non-emergency procedures — the more profitable procedures on which hospitals rely to balance their bottom lines — so hospitals can have enough room and resources to handle COVID-19 patients. The cancellations also keep people without COVID-19
infections from possibly being exposed to the virus at hospitals also treating COVID-19 patients.
McLaren Medical Group, a part of McLaren Health Care, said it had experienced a reduction in patient volumes of more than 60% and will cut its employees’ hours.
McLaren Medical Group, a part of McLaren Health Care, said it had experienced a reduction in patient volumes of more than 60% and will cut its employees’ hours.
Julie Lepzinski, president and CEO of McLaren Medical Group, said in a statement that it was “taking a critical look at offices most impacted. We are adjusting hours of operation to account for decreased volume, while maintaining access for essential care. For patients in need of more routine care, we have expanded our telehealth availability to help ensure access to care.”
She said McLaren Medical was currently working with physicians to “identify those who may be temporarily furloughed for the next two months. They will maintain a certain level of compensation and continue their healthcare coverage. We don’t yet have final numbers or locations for furloughed physicians, as we are reviewing patient volumes on a regional basis and ensuring we continue to provide necessary care across the state.
“Of the nearly 500 providers we have across Michigan, all will continue working throughout this healthcare crisis. However, many will have reduced working hours based on the needs of our communities and the patients we serve.”
According to McLaren Medical’s website, it has more than 300 physicians, as well as physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives who work at more than 150 primary and specialty centers.
Beaumont’s challenges
Beaumont Health is also struggling financially.
Beaumont Health is also struggling financially.
Beaumont, whose CEO was among the first to raise concerns about health care finances amid COVID-19, reported Monday that it was $54 million in the red in net operating income during the first quarter of 2020. CEO John Fox has called for a $300 billion-$600 billion federal Hospital System Super Fund.
It is now putting its hospital in Wayne on stand-by in the case of a COVID-19 resurgence.
“The pandemic remains very unpredictable,” said spokesman Mark Geary.
“The pandemic remains very unpredictable,” said spokesman Mark Geary.
Jason Bradford said he’s now without a job. The Ypsilanti man said he has worked at Beaumont, Wayne in the patient-access registration department since December 2014.
In recent weeks, the Wayne location canceled its scheduled procedures and closed its emergency room. In Bradford’s words, “the hospital was literally only COVID-19 patients.”
But then Beaumont stopped admitting new COVID-19 patients to the hospital, which has 185 beds.
Staff was cut, too.
Bradford said that within hours of the last patient being taken out of the Wayne hospital by helicopter Tuesday night, Beaumont, Wayne employees were told by email they were being laid off.
