Tennessee Hospitals Making Cuts Due To Economy, But Not MSHA or Wellmont

Tennessee Hospitals Making Cuts Due To Economy, But Not ... (Added: December 30, 2008)

Video from your local news source. (more)

0 Ratings | 0 Video Views

Post a Comment or Rate this Video

» View More Videos

Tennessee Hospitals Making Cuts Due To Economy, But Not MSHA or Wellmont

Hospitals across Tennessee are cutting jobs, but not Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System. The Tennessee Hospital Association says 43 of the 82 hospitals that responded to a recent survey admitted to already cutting staff. Most of the rest are considering cuts, according to THA.

By Nate Morabito
Published: December 30, 2008

» 2 Comments | Post a Comment

If anything, MSHA and Wellmont say they are in the latter category. Combined, the two health care companies employ more than 15,000 people in the Tri-Cities. When the stock market took its dive this fall, both health care giants started reducing expenses, but according to Wellmont and MSHA, the economy has not cost any of those employees a job yet. Still, the unstable economy has affected the hiring process.

“We are not hiring many of the non-clinical jobs, administrative jobs, many of those that are not core to our patient services,” MSHA Vice President of Marketing and Communications Ed Herbert said.

For example, MSHA is not filling a position in Herbert’s own Marketing Department.

"We're going to have to find a way to stretch to cover without that position,” Herbert said. “But if it's a needed position for patient care, we're hiring."

Wellmont says it too is more carefully filling positions, specifically administrative jobs.

"We are judiciously filling positions in non-clinical areas,” Wellmont Sr. Vice President of Communications and Marketing Patrick Kane said. “We have done some work in redesigning some departments with some new leadership and that’s resulted in some folks (three corporate employees) who are not with us anymore, but that’s not related to the economic issues.”

Although the two companies are opting against filling some jobs, both say that is the extent of the economic backlash so far. At the most, they say job cuts have been a thought, not a reality. However, both admit, things could change.

“When you have an economic challenge like we have, everything’s in play,” Kane said.

“If the financial markets do not improve or if they worsen, at some point, we are going to be forced to look at other options and that could include layoffs,” Herbert said.

According to Herbert, those hypothetical reductions in force would be in departments like his own, departments that are not crucial to everyday patient care. Both MSHA and Wellmont agree if the time comes to cut jobs, the healthcare professions often considered to be recession-proof will remain safe.

"If we are going to do anything expense reduction, it's not going to be at the bedside,” Kane said. “It's going to be as far away from the bedside as we can get, but again, we're not there yet."