Eastern Maine Medical Center, the 2008 winner of the Davies Award that recognizes excellence in use of information technology, has joined the ranks of hospitals coping with tough economic times. Hospital officials say they will cut 76 jobs, reduce overtime and put several projects on hold.
"We have been working hard to reduce operating costs at EMMC and bring them into a more competitive position," Deborah Carey Johnson, RN, the Bangor, Maine-based hospital's president and CEO, wrote in a memo to employees dated Jan. 27. "Some very good work has been done to control the increase in costs. Still, stemming the increase is not enough. We need to decrease our costs."
The belt-tightening measures include:
- elimination of 52 vacant positions and 24 occupied positions;
- a reduction in hours of 10 positions;
- reduced overtime and extra time costs;
- deferred selected capital expenditures;
- renegotiated supply contracts;
- reduced travel and conference expenses throughout the hospital;
- elimination of the uniform allowance for non-bargaining unit employees;
- and a review of high-cost procedural areas for opportunities to reduce costs.
Carey Johnson said that by the middle of February, operational evaluation teams - similar to the service teams used at EMMC for the past several years to achieve award winning patient satisfaction - would be established.
"We are not surprised to find our performance in the quarter ending December 2008 fell short of our budget goals," she said. "Getting EMMC back on track -both with this year's budget and with permanent cost reductions for our patients - will mean a combination of strategies, from staffing changes and reducing supply costs, to increased efficiencies in all areas."
The Davies Award, which recognizes excellence in the use of healthcare information technology, is awarded annually by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. It typically recognizes improvements attained on both the clinical and financial fronts.