MILLINOCKET, Maine — Three workers at Millinocket Regional Hospital will be laid off and nine others cut to part time on Aug. 1 as part of a plan to offset a $1.5 million budget shortfall and a $500,000 operational loss, the hospital’s chief executive officer said Thursday.
The reorganization comes in response to cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, a 13 percent reduction in the Katahdin region’s population from 2001 to 2010, and increased medical costs, CEO Marie Vienneau said.
The layoffs “will have no impact on clinical services. These were all in areas that were clerical or support services,” she said Thursday.
The layoffs and reductions in hours will help the hospital save about $550,000 over the next fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2013. The general surgery clinic and some hospital management practices also were reorganized, Vienneau said.
To help reduce costs, the hospital’s fitness and wellness center will cut its hours entirely on weekends and reduce its weekday schedule by two hours a day so that it will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., Vienneau said.
The cardiac rehabilitation unit will cut its hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays to 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Vienneau said. The cut in hours should not imperil patients’ abilities to get services, she said.
Located on Somerset Street, the facility is a 25-bed critical access hospital that provides primary care and specialty services, including family practice, internal medicine, orthopedics, general surgery, ENT surgery, radiology, and urology. Visiting consultants offer cardiology, OB/GYN, ophthalmology, podiatry and oncology services, according to the hospital’s website, mrhme.org.
The hospital joins facilities in Calais and Bangor that have been forced to lay off workers and curtail services over the last year, partly in response to Medicaid cuts.
The hospital has plans to increase revenues and cut more costs. A new general surgeon will begin work in September, which should draw more patients to the hospital. Hospital leaders also are applying to have the hospital or some of its parts designated rural health clinics, which would increase the hospital’s revenues by $300,000. That application should be completed by November, Vienneau said.
A Maine Forest Service grant of about $230,000 will help pay for the installation of a wood boiler this fall which should significantly cut the hospital’s energy costs. The hospital will use its own matching funds to finish the project, Vienneau said.
The hospital’s overall goal is to cut expenses by $1.5 million or develop the same amount of new revenue by June 30, Vienneau said. However, a continued population decline — the 2010 census put Millinocket’s population at 4,506 — could further endanger hospital services.
“We hope that as far as position eliminations goes, this will be it. We will have to see how this continues,” Vienneau said. “If the volumes of all of our services, but particularly outpatient services, continues to decline, we might be having this conversation again in 12 months.”
In almost every instance of job cutting at area hospitals clinical services are never impacted. Try receiving medical procedures with 3 less “clerical” people.
I bet the CEO has taken no cuts in her huge salary.
I bet that you’re right. What’s a hospital CEO??? …… a health insurance specialist/administrator/businessperson who may have some medical knowledge. I wonder if she could even stitch up a cut? She certainly knows how to stop the financial bleeding, lay off people and cut other’s hours, and hire a new (money making doctor) to generate “revenue” in an area that can’t even get the governor to pay what the state owes them. Ask her to sit in the business end of an ambulance.
Oh,Do I see the nurses contracts coming up in the future?
You think this is bad wait for Obamacare. The government can’t afford to pay for medicaid services now, add 30 million and see what happens.
Yeah, let women have babies on sidewalks, and people can amputate their own limbs. That’s better than providing them access to healthcare, right? I’ve read so many of your comments, but almost never respond because you have so little chance of expanding your consciousness or humanity. My God, you are so bitter and meanspirited.
Medicaid costs are being shifted to the states. The states (and the feds) underpay hospitals for their services layoffs are inevitable. That has nothing to do with meanspiritedness. It has more to do with math.
What are you going to do when the hospital close to you goes broke and closes? Even 15 miles is a long trip when your life depends on getting there quick.
Medicaid costs are being shifted to the states. The states (and the feds) underpay hospitals for their services layoffs are inevitable.
Yellow root and 40 lb test, duct-tape and some whiskey.
Thats funny. I knew a guy who once had a chain saw accident. He duct-taped his leg and sat in the ER drinking beer telling the nurses that the crying baby was sicker than he was. He would wait.
Yes, very funny. I know a woman in Bucksport who fell and cut her leg with a chainsaw. Tough gal. She duct taped it up because she doesn’t have health insurance. Predictably it became infected and she had to go to the doctor. The injury had healed enough that it was too late to stitch it up so all the doctor could do was prescribe antibiotics. She was told she was lucky not to have lost the leg. She didn’t go to the ER for free treatment and had to pay for this out of pocket with money she didn’t have to spare. Had she gone to the ER and couldn’t pay the $5000 or more they would have charged she would have lost her home eventually for non-payment. Hospitals are increasingly more aggressive when it comes to collecting debts. Cheesecake, this is reality for those who cannot afford health insurance. You run a chainsaw halfway through your leg and use freaking duct tape to hold it together because you cannot afford to go to the hospital. Or you go without your heart/cancer/diabetes/etc medicine so your kids can eat that month. There but for the grace of God go I, and you Cheesecake.
Bizarre.
It isn’t bizarre Cheesecake. It is reality for many Americans. There is a great deal of suffering in our country and it isn’t necessary. You need to open your eyes, and your heart. It is time for universal healthcare coverage. It is time for Americans to help our own. In the end analysis we will all profit. And save money too!
She would not have lost her home for non payment. There are legal ways to avoid losing ones home for medical bills.
Just more hyperboli regardign the ACA.
It doesn’t matter what the actual legal ramifications are for non-payment of medical bills. What matters is that she “believed” this could happen and so she chose not to go to the hospital. And frankly I’m not so sure you are right. But then neither of us are attorney’s are we.
If she had medical expenses that she could not pay off then she could have filed bankruptcy and protected her house and car. Eighty percent of bankruptcy’s in this country are because of medical expenses showing how our system is so badly broken.
I think that is what Cheesecake1955 is attempting to explain to you.
“The hospital plans to increase revenue and cut more costs…..” What does the national health care plan have to do with that? Planning to increase revenue and cutting costs has nothing at all to do with health care, it has everything to do with making money.
Medicaid costs are being shifted to the states. The states (and the feds) underpay hospitals for their services layoffs are inevitable.
If everyone has either medicare or private health insurance than the amount paid per person will go down because people with healthcare coverage will not be paying for people who do not have coverage.
Example 1. 2 people go to the Emergency Room for a broken leg and it costs $10,000 for both people (I am picking a number at random). Currently one person has healthcare coverage an don eperson does not. The person with coverage gets charged $10,000 and the other person is not able to pay the amount owed. The hospital is out $10,000 which it has to make up in other ways. Some ways may be to charge $25 for an aspirin, for example.
Example 2. 2 people go to the Emergency Room for a broken leg and it costs $10,000 for both people (I am picking a number at random). Both party’s have healthcare coverage so the hospital recieves payment for $20,000. The hospital does not have to make up the difference charging $25 for an aspirin, for example, but instead charges the true cost. The hospital is better off financially, both patients recieved the appropriate healthcare and maybe, just maybe healthcare costs start to either stabilize or go down.
That is why the Right is so against the ACA.
Who is going to pay?
Everyone, or almost everyone, will pay something towards healthcare thus lowering the cost for most everyone.
I have a question for you. Today while driving I heard a news report stating that for the first time the average Canadian family is wealthier than the average American family. How can that be if they live in a socialist country with healthcare provided for all?
Oh, and they live longer healthier lives then Americans do, just like the rest of western Europe, Japan and Australia (all socialist countries by conservative definition).
Canada question first. This socialist country actually backs their business. They don’t give lip service to doing so then stab them in the back. Canada pulled out of the Kyoto accords and are pumping oil like never before. Their energy sector is booming. They are building pipelines and refineries. They plan on building and expanding ports to feed the world. Socialists can afford to be socialists if they have the money.
They live better longer lives because they actually work. We pay people to sit on couches… how can we be a healthy society when we have one built on enlarging the dependence culture? Take a look at the numbers. What percentage of Canada is on disability income compared to the same programs in the US? What percentage of their population is dependent on the government for basics like food? We have since the late sixties created a dependent culture and suddenly folks wonder why we can’t support ourselves?
You tiool
need to go out for a few will bbiab.
You are exactly right on this one pbmann. Canadians live longer and are on average more wealthy than Americans. Every time someone puts down the Canadian healthcare system I go over the top. I have quite a few relatives living in Canada and none of them would rather have the American healthcare system.
Thank you Obama.
Start by thanking Saint Ronald Reagan first. do you remember the 80’s? I do. 2-3%hospital and nursing home reimbursement cuts for Medicare and medicaid; DRGs to boot sick people out of hospitals while still ill? How about the booming “Managed care for profit” Corps. (schemes) in play due to Saint Reagan’s policies? Until the 80’s, 5% profit margins were considered decent for insurers. post 80’s, try 35-40% profit margins.
I wish you’d get together with Cheesecake and read some History Books instead of deluding yourselves into believing that nothing harmful happened in healthcare pre-Obama. Get some perspective – you can’t put a 500 piece puzzle together with 12 pieces.
Thats quite a story. It seems like people made it through the 80’s ok didn’t they?
What “history book” did you read that made Ronald Reagan a saint? your a moonbatter
Yeah, we definitely made it through the 80’s OK, some better than others, with the established older boomers doing much better than new grads. In 1980, mortgage interest rates shot up from 8.75% to around 16-18%. This mirrored the inflation rate in each of Jimmy Carter’s years in the late 70’s. So, if you already owned a home and some savings, CD rates were paying you 12-15%/year, and you were in pretty good shape. This stuff can be found in any Economic History Bk. for that era, but I know it best by living through it. (I did it as a new college grad in a Recession mid-late 70’s) – quite similar to today’s grads.)
The fact is this – There is always a delayed reaction to the policies of a previous President. It can take from 5 years to 30 years before you realize the full effects. For example, only now are many boomers finding out that their retirement age is not 65, but 66. If they worked for a State, Municipal or Federal Entity,AND they worked under Soc. Sec. for 40 quarters, their sos.sec. $ will be 40% to 60% lower that what you were led to believe by their yearly S.S. statements say.
See, these laws went into effect in the (mid? – 80’s, I think.) They are part of R.Reagan’s legacy, but people are just finding out about them 30 years later. I don’t mean to bore you, but Reagan also cut taxes for rich, but the middle class tax cut was more of a wash. (lowered tax rates, but eliminated significant middle class tax-deductions.) G.H.W. Bush comes in, inherits deficits and drained Soc. sec. trust funds, and has to raise taxes to meet the defense budget. Bush loses from Reagan’s desire to funnel more money to his wealthy donors, forcing Bush to re-neg on his “No New Taxes” campaign slogan. Bill Clinton sweeps into office on song (of hope)…”Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.” He is a flawed man, politician, and flawed policy & decison maker… BUT, he gets the ALL the credit and benefit of the boom years due to G.H.W.Bush’s fiscal conservatism and has as the luck of the tech bubble rising. I’m too tired to go through the cause and effect of the G.W.Bush’s legacy on the Obama admin. right now, but you get the idea now. Every President inherits a good or bad presidency before him, and benefits or suffers accordingly.
BTY, My elevation of Reagan to Sainthood is blatant sarcasm – it’s because he is revered as such by righties.
So, I just looked up moonbatter, having only started noticing the phrase lately. Yeah, I think it fits me, so I’ll take it as the complement it is.
You forgot to mention Ronnie’s greatest accomplishment. He made it chic to be greedy. Prior to the Reagan years we still condemned greed, now we embrace it.
I believe after 40 years of Democrats control that not much can happen to cure all the free loading.We have few good paying jobs because of high taxes, & high living expenses
What exactly does this have to do with greed which was my point in the first place? People trying to make our problems a Democrat or Republican thing only delays a solution. They are both guilty of fiddling while Rome burns.
How about after 30 years of trickle down Reaganomics? How’s that working out?
You are so right – Our county’s downfall is all about greed, and Reagan wrote the first chapter of the book on Union busting, and turned Union into a dirty wood. Now people complain about all the crappy, low paying jobs with no benefits. That’s the combo platter of Reagan’s union busting tactics, Clinton’s NAFTA, (which Obama wants to expand to far more nations), and greed, greed greed. Cause and effect. What did people expect would happen by keeping these buffoons in office?
Personally, I would love to return to the days when labels were INSIDE our clothes, and conspicuous consumption was frowned upon. (the latter part will make a comeback in the next decade.)
I have a hard time putting a 12 piece puzzle together.
To be honest, mainetaxpayer, sometimes I have a hard time putting a 12 piece puzzle together too.
Pasty, Insurers average about 5% margin right now. Try reading a 10-Q or an annual financial report before you make false accusations.
Actually all kinds of bad things happened to healthcare and the cost of insurance in the last twenty years. Blame Augusta for that. You are right plenty happened before Obama, he just put in the final nail.
Well do not forget NAFTA and the Clinton Admin. Don’t foget Barney Frank and forcing to lump S&L and changing those laws. Lots of blame to go around, well except for the Democrats I guess. Or how about Johnson putting S.S. into the budget.
Bruce, you forgot to mention Watergate.
Don’t foget some lies in Clinton’s admin. I forgot those were only half truths. I wonder when Obama will pardon the illegal immigrants, as Carter did for draft dodgers.
I agree – plenty of blame on both sides of the aisle – not to mention the never ending Circus Quagmire Act, aka “Congress.” So, when are “we the voters” ever going to get our act together, get past all the propaganda from both parties, and move this Country forward?
Thank you Bush #2 for two unfunded wars.
Wonder what will happen in Syria and Iran. And Obama’s promise to bring our soldiers home. Oh don’t forget the Illegal immigrant influx.
Thank you BUSH for your Depression.
Thanks to Obama for making it so much … “Better”??
I wonder if the state owes them money.
Bubba LePage found a cure for that! Don’t pay anything and let the Hospitals take it on the chin.
I believe after 40 years of Democrats control that not much can happen to cure all the free loading.We have few good paying jobs because of high taxes, & high living expenses
“The cut in hours should not imperil patients’ abilities to get services, she said.”
I’m not unsympathetic to the situation, but I don’t see reality in that quote.
BUT, I’ll be the administration hasn’t been touched. Article is flimsy on details that would have meant a lot to the better understanding of the actions and intentions of the unit. With less business, does the top administrator cut his/her hours?
The fitness and wellness centers will now be closed on weekends. I have not seen these areas and would like to know how many people on average, use those facilities on the weekends, are they open to general public, and if so, it would make no sense to close those doors as they would be providing people with areas to exercise. Article lacks many details. How about an Update with Details.???