
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 23, 1995                   TAG: 9505240016
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HEALTH FACILITIES MERGE

After mulling over a "cost-saving" proposition for about two years, a decision has been made to merge Lewis-Gale Psychiatric Center with Lewis-Gale Hospital. The plan will take effect in January, Jim Sholes, chief executive officer of the Psychiatric Center, said Monday.

Although the two organizations have been separate since the center's inception - the psychiatric center will celebrate its 20-year anniversary in June - Sholes said the merger is the kind that most people won't notice, except there may be fewer workers.

The hospital and psychiatric center already share the same owner - Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. of Lousiville, Ky. They also occupy the same site in Salem.

"The name will stay the same, the location will stay the same. The parent company will stay the same," Sholes said.

What will be different is instead of the hospital and psychiatric center acting as independent entities, next year they will operate as one.

That means one management team, one set of books and one corporation under Columbia/HCA.

"It makes all the sense in the world. We'll have joint departments, and we won't have to duplicate management services," Sholes said.

The decision for the reorganization was made in "mid- to late January to use all of 1995 to merge," Sholes said.

The beginning of January saw the center's first wave of reorganization with a 14-employee layoff - a dozen of whom were on the nursing staff. However, when the layoff occurred, Sholes said the possible merger still had not been finalized.

The center now employs about 145 people - 115 to 118 of them full time. During the next seven months of streamlining and consolidating, Sholes said he doesn't expect that number to be trimmed any further through layoffs. Other positions may, however, be cut through attrition.

"We've been letting people go through attrition and cross filling, so people won't have to be laid off," Sholes said.

It's an option that was made possible through two years of cross training employees.

However, Sholes admits that won't work for everyone.

"There may be some that won't be experienced enough or have the credentials for the jobs," he said.

Despite the flux, Sholes said one thing will remain constant: patient care.

"The patient won't notice a difference. We're going to maintain the same staff-to-patient ratio as we always have," said Sholes, who will continue his involvement with the center.

He said he will be in a management position, but is unsure what that position will be.

by CNB