Hospital budgets and cuts

[ajw49886]

So today at work we were gathered for a meeting and basically told of impending budget doom. We were told that after making 350,000 in budget adjustments that our department needed $156,000 more in savings and cuts. We were told the hospital as a whole has halted all hiring and any hiring needs would have to be approved by a Vice President of something or other. Two of our open tech positions will be cut which will save about $68,000 and they are asking for volunteers to go to .9. They also require us to give back any overtime we accrue by leaving early or coming in late. The CRNA's of the hospital have been told they will be made salary and that means no OT which means they can be worked hard for little compensation. They have raised nurse patient ratios and We were told not to expect raises this year while the doctor's and executives are still receiving 40,000-2,000,000 bonuses. Management keeps telling us that these things come in waves and things will get better but they aren't the ones who are expecting to be laid off. They are telling us these are preemptive measures due to the fact that we will receive 50 million less in compensation next year even though they made 138 million and hospitals that don't take aggressive actions will be in trouble. Is anyone else out there experiencing these actions in their place of employment and where are you located?

Northeastern pa

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

I am amazed that this information would be shared, even for a non-profit. People forget that hospitals are there to provide 24 hour NURSING care.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

But don't you know that healthcare--particularly nursing--is THE profession for people to switch into, or students to start off in?

THAT propaganda is shameful.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

It is happening every where in America. Nursing is not a good stable profession anymore

No, it is not happening nation wide. I have received two raises since Dec. We have also continued to hire nurses and techs, with overtime remaining available to staff in my department. Work continues to reimburse a substantial amount for graduate programs that employees are enrolled in.

My hospital is nonprofit, we are nationally known, but have an older building with out the latest and greatest technology. Every year we have been managing to make a profit

[sistrmoon, BSN, RN]

We've had hiring freezes in the past. They passed. No clinical staff was laid off. We are still getting small cost of living raises and OT is being limited but not banned outright.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

depends a lot on where you are. We just doubled the size of our hospital and added more staff. No freezes on pay but they took away bonuses. Do not know about Admin bonuses.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

I love that some are still getting bonuses, but the staff are expected to go without. It's amazing how they continue to degrade us. These are the reasons we need unions. Sure they are not perfect, but these situations are RIDICULOUS!

[beckyboo1, BSN, RN]

Yup. Patient ratios have gone way up--who cares if the patient suffers or not.

They should get rid of the middle managers---too many in charge, and too little that actually do the work.

But the thing is, they DO care if the pt suffers because Press Gainey scores define whether we are reimbursed for care or not. So, work us to death and expect superior care. It's crazy!

[ajw49886]

They try to explain to us that without doing all this now the hospital will be in trouble next year and all other hospitals that aren't cutting back will be in big trouble.

We also mentioned the big bonuses and the response we got was that patients do not come to the hospital to see us, the support staff. That the doctor's deserve that bonus because they are the stars of the hospital. While I am not arguing that doctor's do not deserve their cut, it's hard for me to feel sympathy when your already making 400,000 a year + and you can give up your bonus for a year or accept a percentage of a pay cut to assure people keep their jobs. Let's definitely not give environmental their 10 cent raise so doctor x can buy another airplane.

[mander]

My local hospital just fired an administrator and all of the managers he hired for no reason other than that they are his friends. Conveniently, he had a million dollars coming to him if they terminated his contract early. My hospital couldn't afford to fire his manager friends for that same reason. The hospital my local one joined up with is going bankrupt, and my hospital loaned them a lot of money. My mother is a transcriptionist and can't decide if she should stay or go since they keep sending their typing overseas at the other hospital. They are not hiring any new nurses and not replacing ones that go. They are outsourcing dialysis. IDK if we will have a damn hospital within 40 miles if this keeps up.

Oh I almost forgot, my husband who worked in environmental services was laid off almost immediately after all of this, as well as three of his coworkers and the ones there can barely get their job done in time. They interviewed 20 nursing students from my class last May and not one was hired, they just did it so no one would start rumors I guess.

[Deepinthegame]

Yeah, going throught the same here at a giant Magnet Status teaching hospital . Matter of fact, it is so wealthy until it was a write up about how if the hospital didnt get a dime from the government it would still be in the black. Non-for profit - My ____ ! Our CEO got a $10 million bonsus last year ,but cuts to everything. Plus, I love how while in school we had to write paper , after paper on the importance of staffing and good pt outcome- Joke ! Next we have all these nurses with so many letters after their names Nurse Susie BSN,MSN, pHD A-Z but no voice. Business always wins out ! I'm so jaded from watch greed win out . Been nurse since "93" these places are all the same. I think it is hiliarious ! Don't hate the player -hate the game !

Please ,Please ,Check out this article when hospitals go Jeffery Dalhmer : Feds raid Sacred Heart Hospital, arrest owner and doctors - Chicago Sun-Times