COLUMBUS, Ohio — About 35 Ohio hospitals are planning layoffs sometime in the next six months, according to a survey by the state’s hospital trade association.
The results were part of the Ohio Hospital Association’s HealthBeat newsletter, which said about one-third of respondents were planning employee cut-backs. A total of 110 of the association’s 174 members responded to the survey.
The association did not know how many layoffs were planned and would not provide a list of hospitals that said they were planning layoffs.
The association asked: “How many [full-time employees] does your hospital plan to lay off/not replace over the next 6 months?” One-third indicated “definite plans for layoffs,” association spokeswoman Tiffany Himmelreich said.
Hospital systems throughout the state already have cut back on staff this year, and a few — including MetroHealth Medical Center — have warned staff to expect more cuts.
The survey announcement also fits into a series of warnings from the association and its members, which are battling the effects of a bad economy at the same time they wage a political campaign against a new state fee that could cost hospitals $598 million over the next two years.
The fee money would be used by the state as matching funds to get federal money, and Ohio would return about $200 million to the hospitals. But the hospital systems have warned that the fee, coupled with other state budget provisions and the added economic burdens in health care, could trigger layoffs statewide.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
On Thursday, the Ohio Hospital Association released a letter sent by the Catholic Conference of Ohio to Gov. Ted Strickland criticizing the way his proposed budget taxes the state’s health-care system. Among taxes cited by the Catholic bishops was an increase in the nursing home bed tax.
State officials have said that the budget is one of “tough choices” that requires sacrifice from every sector and that hospitals cannot be exempt.
