Northern Berkshire Healthcare Cuts 11 Positions
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The affected employees will be provided with severance packages, and some will be offered other positions within the organization for which they are qualified, according to a statement from NBH, parent corporation of North Adams Regional Hospital and VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire. The hospital just laid off two other administrators, Vice President of Patient Care Services Billie Allard and Vice President of Guest Services Kathy Arabia, both longtime employees.
"Over the past several weeks, Northern Berkshire Healthcare has been working with Navigant, a nationally recognized expert on hospital management and operations," said Richard Palmisano, president and chief executive officer of NBH, in the statement. "Our goal is to be sure that our costs reflect the fact that we are a smaller organization today. We no longer operate senior care facilities, and – like hospitals across the country – we are seeing significant declines in patient volumes that mirror national and regional trends."
Navigant is the second consulting firm the health-care system's brought in to help it controls costs and management. In 2005, several senior administrators were effectively shown the door and Cambio Health Solutions LLC came in to run and review the health-care system's operations. Palmisano was hired some time later and, between Cambio and Palmisano's efforts, the NBH had a short-lived period in the black.
Hospital officials have said the global financial crisis and declining patient enrollments and Medicaid payments exacerbated budgeting and debt issues. The health system is reportedly carrying nearly $54 million in debt and its credit ratings have been downgraded by both Fitch and Standard & Poor's.
The health system's trying to recover and restructure. It's sold off money-losing long-term care facilities Sweet Brook and Sweetwood and is expected to file for Chapter 11 to reorganize its finances. It's also known to be actively seeking to partner with another health-care provider and has been in talks with Berkshire Health Systems.
The hospital is also pursuing "Critical Access Hospital" status, a federal designation to ensure health care for those enrolled in Medicare. The government will reimburse CAH hospitals 101 percent of actual cost for treatment and care which could bring in $2 million annually, according to hospital officials.
"Our work with Navigant has provided NBH with an important external perspective on our operations, along with ideas about best practices from their work with other healthcare providers around the country," Palmisano said. "Their recommendations on how to modify our operations to match current patient volumes and community needs have been carefully considered. In the end these decisions were made by NBH leadership and are consistent with our mission of providing high quality care to the community and being a responsible employer."
NBH's work with Navigant will continue, and will result in additional changes. Palmisano said the primary goal is to ensure NBH continues to provide effective, high quality health-care to the community.
"This was a very painful decision, particularly given the commitment of our staff to the community," he said about the terminations. "However, changing the way we do business to reflect the new reality is critical to regaining financial stability."
