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Massena Memorial Hospital to cut nearly 15 full time equivalent positions through 'realignment'

Posted 2/10/15

MASSENA -- About 15 positions at Massena Memorial Hospital will be affected by what the hospital is calling a staff realignment “designed to right size the organization,” according to MMH CEO …

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Massena Memorial Hospital to cut nearly 15 full time equivalent positions through 'realignment'

Posted

MASSENA -- About 15 positions at Massena Memorial Hospital will be affected by what the hospital is calling a staff realignment “designed to right size the organization,” according to MMH CEO Robert Wolleben.

The changes will kick in around the middle of this month, MMH said.

“We have already instituted a hold on approximately 13 vacant fulltime, part-time and per diem positions throughout the hospital,” Wolleben said. “In total, there will be 14.95 FTEs (Full Time Equivalents) that will be effected by the realigning in the following areas: administration, fiscal services, support services, ancillary, outreach and nursing services.”

He adds that the positions will be affected through attrition, a reduction of manpower hours worked and the smallest number being lay off.

“This is a result of reduction in Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates for the hospital and shift from what was inpatient volumes to outpatient,” Wolleben said. “This realignment will focus the resources to developing professional services, outreach efforts and other services supported by the community.”

Wolleben says the hospital’s senior management team and department directors have been working for some time to reduce costs and not affect personnel. He says the hospital continues to develop and implement initiatives to address a balanced budget to offset the changes in census and services provided. These initiatives include continuing operational reviews for department efficiencies; developing professional services with the intent to increase patient volumes; strictly enforcing all hospital policies on overtime and reducing hours of some part-time employees; and realigning staff for improved productivity. Additionally, there will be a hiring freeze and the realignment will be realized through attrition of retirements, which means not replacing positions resulting from resignations when appropriate.

“It is our fiscal responsibility to right size due to the changes in utilization patterns, reimbursement rates and census,” Wolleben said. “We regret that the realignment is necessary at this time. We are consolidating where it makes fiscal sense. We want to assure the community that we will maintain quality patient care with an appropriate ratio of healthcare providers to patients.”

The hospital currently employs 435 people.

Massena Memorial has been in financial hot water. Although they broke even in 2014, they had been on course to have faced about a $4 million loss from operations, which would have left them with very little on-hand cash.

The hospital received about $4 million in settlement money and federal assistance. In addition to that, the state agreed to let the hospital adjust its books after several years of incorrectly coding Medicaid payments, meaning they are off the hook from owing Albany $2.5 million.

This will replenish MMH’s cash reserves, which have been dwindling to pay off their negative monthly net loss.

MMH received $193,000 from a Medicaid audit statement, $196,000 from the Rural Floor Budget Neutrality agreement and $3.9 million from the Interim Access Assurance Fund (IAAF).

The IAAF is a federal program to assist hospitals that only have enough cash on-hand to operate for 15 days or less.

The payment will help them make their yearly payment to the state pension system. They owed about $4.4 million.

The accounting error for which the state forgave MMH started in 2011. Their accountant was recording Medicaid payments as “other insurance.” When the state audited their books, it looked as if MMH had been overcompensated, and it added $770,000 in debt for one year alone. Had they not been able to correct the error with that state, it could have led to them owing $2.5 million over the next several years, according to what MMH CFO James Smith told the board in October.