Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Lima St. Rita's layoffs and a table of Ohio hospital CEO compensation


From John Curry, July 9, 2008

Of particular interest to Limaland readers:
Below is today's Lima News coverage of a news release concerning the beginning of the layoffs of 49 St. Rita's employees. I wonder if their CEO, Jim Reber, will take a compensation cut? What is his salary? Well, I can't tell you exactly but following the news article is a link to Ohio hospital CEO compensations and you can find Mr. Reber listed on page 7 of the Adobe download..remember, this was from 2004. I wonder what it is today? John
July 9, 2008
Staff reports
Lima News
Here is the text of a news release from St. Rita's Medical Center, in Lima, concerning the layoffs of 49 people, beginning today. The medical center was holding a news conference this morning to explain the layoffs:
The need for healthcare continues to grow as does the cost of providing good healthcare, but revenues such as Medicare and Medicaid payment to hospitals are shrinking. In addition, more and more people are uninsured and the need for "charity" care is exploding.
"Throughout the country hospitals have had to reorganize to guarantee quality service," said Jim Reber, St. Rita's president and CEO. "Over the last two years, normal inflation for supplies and employee increases has exceeded our growth in reimbursement by $6 million each year. And we have seen the number of uninsured patients double over that last four years. Four years ago, one in 20 St. Rita's patients lacked health coverage. Today it is one in 10. In Ohio, one in eight is uninsured."
And while services continue to grow, St. Rita's Medical Center is making every effort to be as efficient as possible in providing these services. "We are very pleased with the efforts our staff members have made in recent months to reduce expenses and conserve resources," said Brian Smith, St. Rita's chief operating officer. "As an organization, we will continue to take this approach to do the best with less. Every effort has been made to make necessary changes in the best interest of our patients, our employees and our communities."
After thoughtful and careful evaluation, it became obvious some very difficult decisions had to be made. Primary to the process was to assure quality patient care was not compromised. Also of primary importance is to continue the philosophy of being the best place to work, and to continue St. Rita's mission of caring for the poor and under-served.
Beginning July 9, 2008, St. Rita's will lay off 49 employees. Staff reductions will be seniority based within departments. Affected employees will be given severance based on years of service and provided with future bid opportunities and transition assistance from St. Rita's Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
All affected employees will be personally notified by their manager as soon as possible.
"A layoff is difficult and painful," said Reber, "but it is necessary to maintain St. Rita's fiscal strength to continue to serve the citizens of the 10-county area."
Now, here's the link to Ohio hospital ceo compensation, click on the link below and go to page 7.
John
[Check out the other pages too -- a real eye opener! KBB]
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