Frederick Health Hospital Eliminates Some Jobs

An official says it will not affect care provided to patients.Frederick, Md (KM) Some job cuts were initiated at Frederick Health Hospital, but there were no layoffs. President Tom Kleinhanzl says it was part of cost cutting measures at the health system due to increasing expenses and decreasing revenues over the past year..”We’ve been cutting expenses in a lot of places all year long, trying to avoid this, “he says. “But we got where we thought this was necessary to make sure that the future, going forward, next year, that we’re set up in a better position to make sure we can continue to grow along with this community.”He says 150 positions which were already vacant were eliminated. But there were 50 employees who were set to lose their jobs. Kleinhanzl says they were offered other positions within the health system. “Our goal was to offer an opportunity to move into a different role within the health system somewhere, and do that for everybody that we talked to.”A majority of those employees took new positions within the hospital, and Kleinhanzl says for some, it was a promotion. He says 12 employees decided to take a buyout and leave.FHH has 3200 employees, according to Kleinhanzl.He points out that this restructuring affected mostly administrative positions, and not clinical jobs like doctors and nurses. “We’re moving full steam ahead recruiting in clinical areas where we need to,” says Kleinhanzl. “But we questioned and challenged., if you will, other areas of the hospital and health system where you wouldn’t feel it from a consumer point of view, where we thought we might be able to tighten our belts.”But patients who come into the hospital for treatment or surgeries, or must be rushed to the emergency room,  will not be affected by this restructuring. “The Frederick Health Medical Group will continue to serve all the ambulatory sites that it has grown to serve in this community, including primary care and specialty practices that this community needs,” says Kleinhanzl.He also says hospitals across the country have been dealing with decreasing revenues and higher costs. “For the better part of 16 months now, hospitals in the United States have been in the red. Not just us. This is a national problem right now.”By Kevin McManus