Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Catholic Health, the region's second-largest hospital system, is planning to shrink its workforce as it tries to cut costs in the face of declining revenues.
The system announced it has offered buyouts to an undisclosed number of its nonclinical employees.
This comes less than a week after Kaleida Health informed one of its largest unions that it is planning to shift inpatient services from DeGraff Memorial Hospital in North Tonawanda to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Amherst.
Both networks say they are responding to reduced reimbursement rates from payers and changing models for delivering health care that are buffeting providers here and nationwide.
"Catholic Health is taking responsible, proactive steps to continue delivering the highest quality care to patients throughout the Buffalo-Niagara region," the system said in a statement Wednesday to The Buffalo News.
A Catholic Health spokeswoman provided the statement in response to a detailed list of questions from The News that largely went unanswered.
The Buffalo-based hospital system would not provide details on whether officials plan to make layoffs if enough workers don't leave of their own accord. The system also would not say which or how many employees it targeted for the voluntary separation program, beyond saying it is "a small number" of its nonclinical workforce.
Employees who apply for the program and are accepted into it will receive monetary incentives in return for leaving the company, Catholic Health said.
The system said this offer is "part of a series of measures designed to right-size the organization and improve operational efficiencies without compromising patient care." Those steps include developing a new strategic plan and investing in cutting-edge medical records technology that should come online next year.
It appears the targeted workers are all nonunion, said Cori Gambini, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1168, which represents employees at both health systems.
Still, she said, "We're definitely concerned because we're going into bargaining with them."
At Kaleida Health, the region's largest health care provider, system officials blame a $30 million reduction in reimbursements from state and federal payers for driving the consolidation of services.
DeGraff's inpatient care will move to Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital, effective Jan. 1, for patients who don't require care at a specialty center such as Buffalo General Medical Center, Oishei Children's Hospital or Erie County Medical Center.
DeGraff's recently renovated emergency department will remain open.
Michael Hughes, Kaleida's chief of staff, previously said Kaleida is changing the services DeGraff offers to match demand. "It's focusing that campus on what the community is using it for," he said.
The changes will affect about 50 jobs at DeGraff.
Those employees will have the chance to transfer to jobs at other Kaleida facilities, following the terms of the health system's union contract. Hughes said Kaleida has more than 180 job openings across its system.
A statement on CWA 1168's website said the shift of services at DeGraff will have a ripple effect throughout the Kaleida system, including at two offsite Millard Fillmore Suburban laboratories and Buffalo General.
The union said it recognizes its members are concerned about their jobs and it awaits more information from Kaleida officials.
Gambini said the union works hard to make sure employees losing their position at one site can find work at another location within the system.
"I don't think it will be a large number of people" who will be out of work in the end, she said.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
