THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190418
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters will cut 31 management jobs as it contends with reduced payments from Medicaid and commercial insurers.
The hospital told 19 managers Tuesday that their jobs were being eliminated. About half of those people will have the chance to move to other jobs within the hospital, said hospital spokeswoman Amy Sampson, but the new jobs may not be in management.
The 12 other jobs being cut are already vacant.
As part of the restructuring, several other middle managers will move to jobs at or below their current positions.
The hospital said the moves will save about $1.7 million in salaries.
None of those who lost their jobs is directly involved with caring for patients, although they include some supervisors of nursing and other medical departments.
``We're trying to keep caregivers by the bedside,'' Sampson said.
The highest-ranking administrator to lose his job was Bruce Kupper, a vice president. There are still three vice presidents and three senior vice presidents in hospital administration, as well as a senior vice president who handles academic affairs.
Kupper is the second vice president in three months to lose a post. In February, the hospital's chief operating officer, Barbara Biehner, left after her job was eliminated. A third vice president's position was dropped after Vice President of Finance Joseph Landsman left to take another job at the end of last year.
Hospital President Robert I. Bonar Jr. declined to be interviewed until after meetings with department heads today. He said in a statement, however, that the hospital isn't looking at any more cuts right now.
``We have no specific plans whatsoever to proceed any further'' with eliminating jobs, he said. However, ``shifts in the markets'' may force the hospital to take another look at staffing, he said.
The biggest market shift for King's Daughters was the state's decision to turn over administration of Medicaid in Hampton Roads to private insurance companies.
Medicaid is the government health insurance plan for the poor and disabled. About half of the hospital's patients - an unusually large percentage - use the program.
The state plans to spend 5 percent less on Medicaid in Hampton Roads next year when the program here is privatized. That could mean a loss of as much as $2.3 million next year, the hospital says.
Hospital officials also have said they're being squeezed by managed care, a program of cost-cutting initiated by insurance companies across the United States.
King's Daughters is finishing up a massive $72 million renovation and expansion, but Sampson said the cuts have nothing to do with the cost of the renovation.
Sampson said the people who lost their jobs were told Tuesday. The news will be shared with department heads and staff at meetings today.
The hospital isn't operating in the red, Sampson said. A report from the state's Health Services Cost Review Council shows the not-for-profit hospital operating at a respectable margin of 5 percent.
But there has been talk of layoffs before. The hospital's strategic plan called for cutting expenses ``through management restructuring'' and streamlining the delivery of care. And in an interview after Biehner lost her job, Bonar said: ``If we don't get management trimmed, we'll have no credibility with employees when we ask them to do more with less.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
HOSPITAL CUTS
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB