ValleyCare hit with more layoffs, cut hours

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

ValleyCare Health System of Ohio is laying off employees again this year.

“We recently made the difficult decision to furlough and reduce hours for some employees,” the health care provider said in a statement.

“Our hospitals regularly review and adjust staffing based on the number of patients in our care and their medical needs. We remain focused on carefully managing operations to support our commitment to provide high quality health care services to our community.”

ValleyCare, which operates Northside Medical Center, Trumbull Memorial Hospital and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital, did not specify how many jobs are affected or when they will be affected.

Representatives from Service Employees International Union District 1199 and the Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association, which both represent ValleyCare workers, could not be reached for comment.

In April, ValleyCare laid off 68 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees at Northside Medical Center.

It was not the first round of layoffs at Northside since Community Health System and its affiliate, ValleyCare, purchased the former Forum Health out of bankruptcy for $120 million Oct. 1, 2010.

In November 2013, ValleyCare Northside announced the elimination of 56.4 FTE positions affecting union and nonunion employees as a result of combining several care units to improve efficiency. It was the second round of layoffs at Northside in three months.

Early in August 2013, the hospital said it was laying off 77 FTE staff members, including several registered nurses.

Community Health Systems, which has 158 affiliated hospitals in 22 states including Sharon Regional Health System, said in September that it would sell or get rid of 12 hospitals to pay off its debts of $850 million.

The company hasn’t named all of the locations it will sell, but it did announce an agreement for the sale of four hospitals and assets of Curae Health Inc.

Last week, Community Health Systems said it had seven sales transactions underway.

The transactions include 17 hospitals, home care and nonhospital real-estate properties that were not named during a conference call Nov. 2 for the company’s third-quarter earnings.

The assets of the 17 facilities account for $2 billion in annual revenue. Proceeds from the transactions, which are expected to close between the fourth quarter of 2016 and the second quarter of 2017, are listed at $1.2 billion. The proceeds will go toward debt reduction.

Community reported a loss of $79 million in its third-quarter earnings, which compared with a profit of $52 million in the same quarter a year earlier.