UI Hospitals 
to lay off 130

IOWA CITY (MCT) — About 130 University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics staff will be notified of their layoffs beginning today.

Hospital leaders hope all affected employees are notified within two or three days. All will be told in person, UI Vice President for Medical Affairs Jean Robillard said.

The layoffs will include staff in administration and workers at the hospital and in the Carver College of Medicine who work in clinical areas, Robillard said. Officials are protecting staff who deal directly with patient care, such as nurses, he said.

“Really with direct patient care, I don’t think we have any layoffs,” he said.

The layoffs are part of about 200 filled positions that will be cut from the hospital’s 6,600-person work force for fiscal 2010, which starts July 1. The remainder of the jobs will be cut through retirement and attrition.

Hospital leaders must reduce the budget by $45 million to achieve a 1 percent profit margin, well below the hospital’s typical profit margins of 3 percent to 4 percent. The budget problems stem from a change in the payer mix and how much the hospital is reimbursed.

The hospital is treating more indigent patients because of the faltering economy, and revenues are down.

Beyond this week’s reductions, leaders will make another 2 percent cut to labor costs, but that will not include layoffs, Robillard said. Staff will be notified of those plans in July. A 2 percent cut equals about $7 million.

Hospital leaders reduced expenses by $23 million this fiscal year, but it wasn’t enough to prevent an operating loss. The hospital’s 2010 budget will be $950 million.