Replace the word 'politicians' with 'corporate executives'. Replace 'voters' with 'workers'. Now bring it on home ..... well .... how about the spouse brings it on home. Everyone (in the US) should learn about 60 day WARN act letters. The wife got one yesterday.
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Article -
The struggling Forest Park and St. Alexius hospitals announced today that they would combine their (all) management and some (95%) services, eliminating 268 full time jobs.
The two St. Louis hospitals have been owned by Success Healthcare of Boca Raton, Fla. (a bunch of lawyers) since December 2008.
Forest Park, at 6150 Oakland Avenue, has 450 licensed beds. St. Alexius has two campuses in south city, 3933 S. Broadway and 2639 Miami Street, with 476 total licensed beds.
Patient occupancy at Forest Park reached a low of 17 percent in 2007, down from 28 percent in 2005. St. Alexius operates at about a 25 percent occupancy rate. By comparison, the average occupancy rate for hospitals in the St. Louis region is about 60 percent.
In 2006, Forest Park’s owners announced the layoffs of about 100 hospital workers. The hospital also closed its obstetrics unit and reduced orthopedic services, which meant less revenue from private and public insurance payers.
The hospital posted a loss of $2.3 million in 2006 but turned it around to a $1.1 million profit in 2007, the latest figures available, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. St. Alexius made a profit of $12.1 million in 2007.
Both hospitals faced a tense situation last year when Gov. Jay Nixon’s administration proposed regulations that would curb Medicaid payouts to hospitals in the state by $139 million a year. (translation, medicaid doesn't pay out fast enough)
Negotiations between the Missouri Hospital Association and the state Department of Social Services focused on the two St. Louis hospitals because of their particularly tenuous finances and the potential negative impact.
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7 comments:
You know what's really fun? Having a company's CEO sit in a room and insist that a place isn't closing down and moving operations to Mexico, only to have them announce they're doing just that 10 days later.
And by "fun" I mean that really freaking sucked.
So...how many of these notices went out to CEOs or to senior management? Inquiring minds want to know.
vw: vinetv - a cable channel dedicated to ivy.
I did hear some good news this morning......Ted Drewes is opening today.
J - I went through something similar with the phone company when the CEO took the headquarters from St. Louis to San Antonio because that's where he was from. Luckily I could retire.
B - Bwahahahaha. That was a joke question, right? I mean, you were trying to be funny, weren't you? I think the CEO and CFO were seen giggling and playing with each others peepees right after the announcement.
B - Finally some good news. And if John comes up now he won't need dry ice to take some home. He can just strap it to the roof of his car.
If only that first one wasn't so very true.
Beginning about 3 years ago, people started being let go from Forest Park Hospital. Back then, they'd get one weeks' pay for every year of service. From then on, every few months after that, groups of about 30 employees of all levels would be let go, and other people left because they found other jobs in advance of being let go. These folks got severance packages, but perhaps not so generous as my old boss's. We who got our WARN letters this week do not get severance packages. I did find out today a little known fact about the federal stimulus package many people think is so awful--it DOES provide for people who have to go on COBRA after their health insurance plans run out. It reduces the COBRA cost by 65% and increases the amount of time of coverage from 9 to 15 months. So, quit bashing the President for not accomplishing health care reform! He and Congress have at least taken care of the many, many workers affected by the economy in terms of helping them afford health insurance when they'd otherwise lose it or not be able to keep up with COBRA premium payments. Nevertheless, please pray for my co-workers and me. I have already made contact with one former employer who has asked me to come back twice in the last three years, plus I expressed interest to another potential employer yesterday at a luncheon before I got the WARN letter. Note to Bilbo--the CEO quit in September--probably because he was asked to do so. All but the CFO, the HR Director and the Senior Nursing Officer got their WARN letters yesterday, too.
Claudia - that's very interesting. So, who is left at Forest Park Hospital? The way I read it, the staff is down to the CFO, the HR Director, and the Senior Nursing Officer...do they take turns treating patients, cleaning rest rooms, cooking patient meals, and doing security duty?
vw: Skildri - what you have to do to your power tool after you've left it out in the rain.
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