The nursing shortage and poor reimbursement rates for hospitals are starting to take their toll. The news is now peppered with healthcare systems facing significant financial difficulties that if not corrected, could jeopardize the very existence of these facilities. Arkansas Business.com tells of the unfolding story at St Vincent Healthcare System in Little Rock, Arkansas which is faced with laying off both management and staff employees and leaving other positions such as the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President unfilled. A similar story in Bamberg, South Carolina is unfolding in which the local healthcare system as reported by the Augusta Chronicle is having to cut positions to reduce operating costs. Hospital leadership say that the quality of care will not suffer. Additionally more financial problems exist a little closer to home. Cape Cod Healthcare, a two hospital system on Cape Cod, Massachusetts that is some $17 million in the red has just hired a new CEO that is trimming the organization to stop the fiscal bleeding. Positions at Cape Cod Hospital and its sister facility Falmouth Hospital are facing management and provider cuts to help stave off financial losses.
While these are only three healthcare systems and their bed capacity is not at the level of large academic medical centers, the proverbial cookie is beginning to crumble. Earlier this year stories of financial devastation were described for Grady Hospital in Northern Atlanta. The only trauma center in Northern Atlanta was several million dollars in the red and they were having trouble keeping their doors open. Small and large healthcare systems are having to pull the belt tighter. Providers and management personnel are finding themselves without jobs this summer with the potential for a very expensive winter ahead of them.
Healthcare leaders are telling patients that the quality of care will not be effected negatively in hopes of not creating any public concerns. The fact is that we all know healthcare is in dire need of help. Insurance companies continue to turn the fiscal screws on reimbursement to save money and in return expect higher levels of quality care.
High quality care is expensive. Providers at all levels are required as well as consumable supplies and technology to deliver high quality healthcare. Facilities can not trim provider positions and certain management positions and expect to be able to provide quality care to the public. Doing more with less doesn't always apply. The future for all healthcare organizations of all sizes especially smaller ones I would say does not look terribly bright. Managers would be smart to brush off their resumes as well as some hospitalists. Nurses too may find themselves with extra time on their hands once they are let go. Some reports say that nursing is recession proof and a great career path to get into. Perhaps it is and perhaps it is not. One thing for sure is that if you are in healthcare management, you might want to keep your options open.
The bigger issue here is one of sustained quality of care for patients. What will communities do once their healthcare facility is forced to close or stop providing certain services? How will smaller yet critically important healthcare organizations continue to survive and provide care to the public if they continue to be devastated by financial hardship? In the end, all the personnel cuts, reorganization, stopping services, or other such degradations in the delivery of care will only hurt patients, and cause the quality of care to plummet.
While these are only three healthcare systems and their bed capacity is not at the level of large academic medical centers, the proverbial cookie is beginning to crumble. Earlier this year stories of financial devastation were described for Grady Hospital in Northern Atlanta. The only trauma center in Northern Atlanta was several million dollars in the red and they were having trouble keeping their doors open. Small and large healthcare systems are having to pull the belt tighter. Providers and management personnel are finding themselves without jobs this summer with the potential for a very expensive winter ahead of them.
Healthcare leaders are telling patients that the quality of care will not be effected negatively in hopes of not creating any public concerns. The fact is that we all know healthcare is in dire need of help. Insurance companies continue to turn the fiscal screws on reimbursement to save money and in return expect higher levels of quality care.
High quality care is expensive. Providers at all levels are required as well as consumable supplies and technology to deliver high quality healthcare. Facilities can not trim provider positions and certain management positions and expect to be able to provide quality care to the public. Doing more with less doesn't always apply. The future for all healthcare organizations of all sizes especially smaller ones I would say does not look terribly bright. Managers would be smart to brush off their resumes as well as some hospitalists. Nurses too may find themselves with extra time on their hands once they are let go. Some reports say that nursing is recession proof and a great career path to get into. Perhaps it is and perhaps it is not. One thing for sure is that if you are in healthcare management, you might want to keep your options open.
The bigger issue here is one of sustained quality of care for patients. What will communities do once their healthcare facility is forced to close or stop providing certain services? How will smaller yet critically important healthcare organizations continue to survive and provide care to the public if they continue to be devastated by financial hardship? In the end, all the personnel cuts, reorganization, stopping services, or other such degradations in the delivery of care will only hurt patients, and cause the quality of care to plummet.