City Hospital System to Cut 400 Jobs - NYC

Citing “unprecedented financial challenges,” the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation announced on Thursday a plan to lay off 200 workers and eliminate another 200 positions through attrition, part of a move to close a $316 million budget gap. The announcement touched off outrage within District Council 37, the powerful municipal labor union that represents the workers.

City officials said the job cuts were unavoidable and blamed the situation on a refusal by state leaders to increase Medicaid reimbursements to the hospital system.

“It cost nearly $850 million to care for the 450,000 uninsured New York State residents without health insurance who relied on our services last year,” the corporation’s president, Alan D. Aviles, said in a statement. “The City of New York has contributed more than $500 million annually to support the cost of serving the uninsured, while the State contributes a mere $50 million.Now that the State has received nearly $10 billion of federal stimulus money intended to shore up the Medicaid program and the health-care safety net in these economically perilous times, we hope our state leaders will rethink the proposed cuts and support, rather than undermine, our public hospital system.”

Without action from Albany, Mr. Aviles said, the $316 million budget gap for the next fiscal year, which starts in July, could be as much as $300 million higher.

But Lillian Roberts, executive director of District Council 37, said the city shared some of the blame. She said in a statement:

We are very concerned about the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation’s announced plan for service and workforce reductions.

H.H.C. employees, a large number of whom are represented by District Council 37, are devoted and dedicated workers caring for over 1.3 million New Yorkers. Many patients are uninsured – some 450,000 and growing.

H.H.C.’s announced plan to close 4 school-based mental health programs, 4 community clinics, 3 satellite pharmacies, 2 hospital-based case management programs, 2 mental health day treatment programs, and a hospital-based therapy program for tuberculosis patients, hurts this city’s neediest and most vulnerable populations

H.H.C. President Alan D. Aviles pointed out that these proposed cuts destroy our vital health care services. What’s more, these service and workforce reductions are not in keeping with the spirit of the $10 billion that New York State has received from President Obama’s stimulus package for the Medicaid program and the health care safety net.

If there is one thing that should be obvious in this economic climate it is that layoffs are not a solution but only compound the problems we’re facing.

District Council 37 will address this issue aggressively. We are talking to the State to make sure that the federal stimulus moneys are used for the purpose for which they are intended. We are also doing everything in our power to ensure that our members and the millions of New Yorkers they serve are protected.

In addition to the job cuts, the hospitals corporation will try to increase efficiency, improve revenue collection and close or reduce 10 hospital-based and 10-community based programs.

The elimination of programs is across the board: slated for the chopping block are four school-based mental health programs, four community clinics, three satellite pharmacies, two hospital-based case management programs, two mental-health day-treatment programs, and a hospital-based therapy program for tuberculosis patients. Three other hospital-based programs will be consolidated with reduced staffing for “greater efficiency.”

The closings, and the layoffs, are to be in effect by June.

“Additional reductions, including more service cuts and layoffs, are imminent in order to deal with our current operating revenue shortfall. However, the outcome of the State budget negotiations in Albany will ultimately determine the magnitude of any future cuts,” Mr. Aviles warned.

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