BREWER, Maine — About half of the Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems employees whose technology positions are due for elimination have found new jobs at the organization, while 11 still face an uncertain future, EMHS announced Wednesday.
The healthcare system is eliminating more than 40 positions in its information systems department as part of a long-term effort to overhaul operations and avoid a $100 million shortfall in 2019. EMHS, parent to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor and seven other hospitals, plans to centralize the department effective Oct. 1.
Fifteen of the 43 positions are vacant and will be left unfilled. Of the remaining 28 jobs, 23 are targeted for elimination and five represent positions that would become obsolete.
EMHS announced Wednesday that 13 employees found new positions within the system and four are in the interview process for information systems jobs. Eleven employees in the department remain without positions, and hope to find other opportunities through the system’s internal career center.
The targeted positions represent about 12 percent of the workforce in the department, which employs more than 350 people with a wide range of technology duties, from overseeing electronic medical record and clinical information systems to an employee help desk. The majority of the department’s staff work in the Bangor-Brewer area, though several are employed at member hospitals throughout the state.
Another 31 staffers in the department will move to the informatics and education division, which will be housed within the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, EMHS announced.
Better aligning the department’s functions will cut annual operating costs by $2 million by fiscal year 2016, according to Kyle Johnson, EMHS system vice president and chief information officer.
“This new streamlined structure will strategically position our IS teams to better meet the current and future IS needs of EMHS,” she said in a news release. “In order to achieve our goals, it is an imperative to align IS operational priorities with EMHS strategic initiatives.”
Similar reviews are also occurring in other departments, including community relations, facilities, and supply chain.
“It is premature to comment on an end result of these reviews due to the sensitive work that is currently underway,” the release stated.
EMHS has already reviewed its human resources, credentialing and legal services departments as part of the overhaul.
The structural changes are part of a broader effort EMHS announced in November 2013 to “reinvent” how the system provides health care and improve its services and business functions. Without the changes, the system could face a $100 million financial gap by the end of fiscal year 2019, according to EMHS.
The system began re-examining its departments two years ago, work its top executive described as necessary to meet the health care needs of EMHS communities while saving costs.
In March, the system’s flagship hospital EMMC announced it faced a $7 million shortfall as a result of shrinking government reimbursements, fewer patients than expected and a surge in unpaid care.
