Jennie Stuart Health officials say the layoffs announced Wednesday at the hospital are extremely difficult but are necessary due to the financial impact the COVID-19 pandemic is still having on healthcare, not only locally but across the nation.
President and CEO Eric Lee says the layoffs were the result of unprecedented challenges that all entities in the community are dealing with due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He adds healthcare was particularly impacted when Governor Andy Beshear issued an order on March 14th for healthcare providers to cease elective surgeries, therefore decreasing their volume and revenue.
Lee says Jennie Stuart Health is now experiencing an almost 40% decline in volume compared to normal, which necessitated the lay-off action. He says that it is just one of several strategies to help manage costs at the hospital when revenues are significantly impacted during this time. He said medical facilities across the nation are feeling the impact.
Lee adds what makes this so tough is that 2019 was an incredibly high-volume busy year for healthcare and no one expected a pandemic in 2020 and the trickle-down economic effect. He says it has been a hit to Jennie Stuart’s system and what drove their actions to help control costs, as well as other healthcare providers nationwide.
At this time, Lee says their primary focus of Jennie Stuart Health is to apply additional capital and financial resources to the securing of personal protection equipment (PPE), supplies, technology and making sure they have all the physicians and clinical support staff to address the COVID-19 pandemic. He says Jennie Stuart is seeing an increase of COVID-19 cases admitted at the hospital, and at this point, their primary focus is to prepare for the handling of this healthcare crisis in the community to make sure they can provide the best care to these patients.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
