Trustees to talk about UPHS cuts

An "important announcement" will be made today about possibly massive Health System layoffs. University of Pennsylvania Health System officials are expected to make an "important announcement" today that could reveal the extent of the Health System's imminent layoffs, officials said last night. Health System officials will reveal their exact deficit from the fiscal year that ended in June -- reportedly as high as $200 million -- at a University Trustees committee meeting this morning at the Inn at Penn. There are expected to be massive layoffs across the $2 billion system. "They will lay out the whole financial recovery plan and workforce reduction will likely be part of it," Health System spokesperson Lori Doyle said last night. Doyle refused to comment on what the specifics of the plan would be, but it was reported earlier this month that up to one-sixth of employees at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania alone could be laid off. Health System Chief Executive Officer William Kelley sent an e-mail to all UPHS employees earlier this month notifying them that widespread layoffs would be made by the end of the month. The cuts are part of ongoing attempts to return the Health System --Ewhich includes the School of Medicine, HUP and three other wholly-owned hospitals, to some form of financial stability. Kelley has pledged to eliminate the deficit by the end of the current fiscal year. The Trustees, Penn's main decision-making body, are holding their fall meetings today and tomorrow. Besides discussing the Health System, the Budget and Finance Committee will also hear from top Penn officials about the fiscal health of the University as a whole. Tomorrow, Provost Robert Barchi will update the members of the Trustees' Student Life Committee on the new alcohol policy and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman is expected to speak to the Academic Policy Committee about academic advising. The Trustees' Stated Meeting, in which the entire board reviews the individual committees' resolutions, will take place tomorrow from 2 p.m. until 3 p.m. at the Inn at Penn. This week's meeting is the first time that the full board will gather together under the new leadership of James Riepe, the vice chairperson of the T. Rowe Price investing firm in Baltimore, and the newly elected chairperson of the University Trustees.

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