Health Sys. fires more than 500 employees

The four hospitals owned by penn laid off 515 workers yesterday. Officials say every department was affected. In its second round of massive layoffs, the University of Pennsylvania Health System told 515 employees that they were out of jobs yesterday and eliminated about 600 additional positions. The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, the Health System's flagship hospital, laid off about 160 of its employees yesterday and cut another 180 empty positions. The layoffs affected employees in each of the Health System's four wholly owned area hospitals. Pennsylvania Hospital laid off 135 workers, Presbyterian Medical Center cut 128 employees and Phoenixville Hospital lost 10 workers. "We really went into every department, area and division and looked at the staffing levels," Health System spokesperson Rebecca Harmon said. "I think it's a safe bet that every department and every division was affected." The $1.9 billion Health System's financial woes have been rapidly spinning out of control. UPHS posted a stunning $198 million loss in the most recent fiscal year. Last week, Moody's Investor Service downgraded the Health System's bond rating -- a measure of the likelihood that its debt will be repaid in a timely fashion -- while predicting that the system would sustain more large losses in upcoming years. The cuts come mostly in support staff positions and include nursing jobs as well. No physicians lost their jobs as a result of the layoffs, spokesperson Lori Doyle said. The exact number of employees laid off in individual divisions was not immediately available. Health System officials have long stressed that patient care would not be adversely affected by the layoffs, though some experts suggest that certain negative changes are inevitable. Health Care Systems Department Chairperson Mark Pauly, for one, said he anticipated that lower levels of staffing might make for a "less pleasant" hospital experience for outpatients and too demanding a workload for the employees who remain. "The real question here is whether labor markets will accommodate a faster pace of work," Pauly said. "Paradoxically, all of the people who complain about being fired might be more miserable if they weren't fired." Yesterday's cuts marked the second time in five months that the Health System has doled out pink slips to hundreds of its employees. In late May, UPHS eliminated 1,100 positions and laid off 450 employees. And the Health System is expected to slash an additional 725 paid positions from the books before June 30, 2000, meaning that 2,800 positions -- or 20 percent of the entire workforce -- will have been eliminated in a 14-month span. Most of the third wave of staff cuts will likely come through attrition and retirement, according to Harmon. The cuts come at a time when the Health System is treating more patients than ever before, including a high number of patients who cannot pay for their care. The Health System reported that it spent $66 million on such services last year. The layoffs follow a comprehensive review of national benchmark statistics at comparable nationwide health systems. Aided by the Hunter Group, the outside consulting firm retained during the summer, Health System officials have spent the last few months determining which departments are overstaffed and could function with fewer workers. One HUP division chief said he had to fire about about 20 employees -- including nurses, receptionists and business administrators -- from his outpatient clinics at HUP and Presbyterian Hospital. He predicted a "higher frustration index" for both patients and doctors. "There will be more work to do, and people are already maxed out in terms of effort," the physician said. There are currently no plans to eliminate any medical departments, though some -- including the widely praised Health and Disease Management program -- will be significantly scaled back and will operate with fewer employees and resources.