Hospital cuts staff, hours, $2.7 million

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Weston County Health Services will furlough four employees, cut salaries of others, and trim other costs to help the hospital navigate the negative financial impacts of government efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. The decisions were made during a special meeting on April 23, just a week after announcing that cuts and furloughs were being considered. The cuts are expected to save the facility $222,716 a month, or $2,732,597 a year.
Several board members joined CEO Maureen Cadwell around the boardroom table. All wore masks as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Other board members and staff had the option to join the meeting virtually to also voice their opinions. 
At the start of the meeting, board President Connie James announced that the cuts are “necessary to keep the facility open and running.” Both Cadwell and James explained that the payroll cuts and plans to scale back some services are temporary to get the hospital through a time of decreased revenue and financial uncertainty. 
After reviewing numbers with the financial committee earlier this week, Cadwell compiled a list of proposed cuts for the board to discuss. The recommended cuts included furloughing four employees, cutting hours for others based on their department, and cutting the salaries of the CEO by 15%, administration by 10% and managers by 5%. Also recommended was cutting access to some services 24/7. 
According to information provided by Cadwell, the total savings for furloughing the four employees and cutting hours for others is $19,634 a month, or $235,608 a year. She said that the hospital will pay health and dental insurance premiums for those employees while they are not working at a cost of $7,266 a month, or $87,195 a year.
“Being furloughed, they are also eligible for unemployment,” James said. “It is not like we are firing them.” 
Cadwell noted that the furloughed positions will be in the physical therapy department, business office and retail pharmacy. Hourly cuts will be made in therapy, pharmacy, home health, maintenance, the business office and radiology. 
Cadwell’s salary will be reduced by $36,791, a year or $3,066 a month. The reductions in salaries for five other administrative personnel will result in a savings of $97,313 a year, or $8,109 a month. Ten managers will also have their salaries cut, resulting in a savings of $78,916 a year, or $6,576 a month. 
Other cuts approved by the board include dropping Home Health Services to one office space, currently theY use two spaces, for a savings of $7,200, getting rid of eEmergency and ePharmacy for a savings of $131,100 a year, and canceling a facilities agreement with Billings Clinic and Cerner for a savings of $134,616 a year. Other smaller cuts include limiting the availability of lab work from 24 hours a day to during normal business hours and cutting the hours of the acute on-call nurse. 
Included in the adjustment to the facility’s revenue, Cadwell said, is the return to the Wellness Wednesday program, which ceased when the COVID-19 regulations were implemented. Cadwell said that the program will bring in an additional $18,000 in revenue annually. 
Total cuts made to the budget after a unanimous vote  is $2,732,597 a year, or $222,716 a month, according to Cadwell.
“These adjustments will be effective next week until further notice,” James said at the close of the meeting.