UMass Memorial Health Care to cut 350 jobs

The staff cuts are the latest evidence that the continuing weak economy and the push to rein in health care costs are taking their toll on hospitals across Massachusetts -- particularly those, like UMass Memorial Medical Center, that serve many low-income patients on Medicaid, the state health insurance program for poor residents.

Last month, Boston Medical Center, which treats many of the city's neediest patients, said it would pare 119 jobs from a workforce of 6,000, a 1.9 percent reduction. Across the Charles River, the Cambridge Health Alliance, which runs so-called safety net hospitals in Cambridge, Somerville, and Everett, has cut hundreds of jobs over the past 18 months, though many of their cuts took place in 2009.

Other hospitals in the state also have been trimming their payrolls. Last summer, Northeast Hospital Corp. in Beverly, which operates hospitals in Beverly, Danvers, Gloucester, and Lynn, said it would cut 75 to 100 jobs, while Berkshire Health Systems said it would eliminate 124 jobs at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

"Hospitals are squeezed to the max," said Boston health care consultant Ellen Lutch Bender. "They're having to look at everything on their balance sheets to see where they can save money. The days of luxury have floated away. They're gone. We live in a very challenging time in our economy and it's clearly impacting our health care system."

At the 1,125-bed UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest hospital system in central and western Massachusetts and the clinical partner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the hospitals had been hiring about 800 new workers a year in recent years even as hundred of others retired or left for other jobs. But anticipated payments from Medicaid, the federal Medicare program, and private health plans all were pared in its 2010 fiscal year. That resulted in a system-wide revenue increase of 1.8 percent, far less than the last several years.

Meanwhile, the number of patients admitted to UMass Memorial Medical Center and its community affiliates -- Clinton Hospital, HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster and Fitchburg, Marlborough Hospital, and Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer -- was flat, while the number of surgeries grew at a lower rate than in the past. That left the system's budget about $85 million below a financial target that would enable it to generate a small gain for the 12 months ended Sept. 30.

To offset that shortfall, the health care system already has laid off about 50 workers and plans to let another 80 go within the next 10 days. Most of the job losses will be at UMass Memorial Medical Center, the flagship hospital, but some will hit the four community hospitals as well. The cuts will affect unionized workers and managers.