Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995 TAG: 9501050052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Employees scheduled to be at work were told it was their last day; others were contacted at home, said Jim Sholes, administrator and chief executive officer.
A dozen of the 14 positions were on the nursing staff and included eight part-time workers who had weekend shifts.
The changes also mean that some nurse managers were pushed down in rank to staff nurse positions, Sholes said.
The jobs eliminated have full-time salaries of about $24,000 for the nursing positions and $18,000 for the two non-nursing positions involved, he said.
In the past, each service unit had its own nursing station at the mental health center. With the number of hospitalized patients decreasing because of pressure from insurance companies, inpatient care no longer is the main function, and one nursing' station was sufficient, Sholes said.
The center is licensed for 144 beds and has been averaging fewer than 60 overnight patients, he said.
Employees have been cross-training for 18 months to prepare for the changes, he said.
Nurses will be expected to work in whichever program needs them instead of being assigned to one program.
The number of patients staying overnight hit an unexpected low recently, Sholes said. He said he does not anticipate any more layoffs, however.
Construction has rearranged the facility to create the single nursing station and to make changes that will allow the center to expand outpatient services.
Only about 20 percent of the physical plant will go unused, because outpatient programs are expanding, he said. The day program that allows patients to participate in therapy at the hospital while living at home has more than doubled, he said.
Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center already operates outpatient clinics at its Salem site and in Martinsville, Blacksburg, Covington and Lexington. Sholes said it plans to open a clinic in Lynchburg by the end of March.
Pressure from insurance companies to avoid keeping patients overnight and the need to become more cost-efficient to compete for patients made the changes necessary, he said.
After the cuts Wednesday, the center will employ about 150 people, Sholes said. He said other positions have been cut gradually through attrition.
Some of the part-time employees already had other jobs. Most of those let go also have signed up for the Lewis-Gale labor pool for temporary jobs.
Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center is owned by Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. of Louisville, Ky., as is Lewis-Gale Hospital. The center and the hospital are on the same site and have been discussing merging for some time, but no decision has been made, Sholes said.
For cost-saving, a merger "would make all the sense in the world," he said.
by CNB