HOSPITAL TO CUT JOBS THROUGH ATTRITION.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Antelope Valley Hospital officials say they plan to cut the staff by 150 to 160 positions, but will do it as workers retire or quit and will not resort to layoffs.

A consultant hired by the 2,200-employee hospital to help stem its financial losses recommended eliminating that number of equivalent full-time positions, which would save the hospital $8 million to $10 million annually.

``The reason we can do it through attrition is because people leave the hospital for a variety of reasons; we have a 16 to 17 percent turnover rate, over 300 people who come and go every year,'' Chief Executive Officer Les Wong said. ``The only difficulty is you don't get to pick and choose who leaves. There might be some areas where there is no attrition or it's not as fast.''

Changing staffing levels was one of the recommendations made by The Camden Group, the consultant hired by the hospital last December. Hospital trustee Steve Fox had said last month the recommendations included layoffs, which hospital officials said was a premature conclusion and unnecessarily worried employees that they could lose their jobs.

Wong said Monday no layoffs were being considered because the hospital is growing.

``Some of our strategies and initiatives are to improve our throughput (getting patients in and out appropriately quicker),'' Wong said. ``Throughput efficiencies will create more beds for us, which means we can put more patients in the hospital and are increasing volume.''

The Camden Group's recommendations would result in nearly $17 million in increased revenue and more than $11 million in spending cuts, Wong said.

``Obviously we are looking at services where we are not making money, but I'm not prepared to say what they are,'' Wong said.

The Camden Group recommended closure of the hospital's mental health department, but Wong said he would like to analyze that idea over the next couple of months.

The Camden Group recommended changing staffing levels based on a comparison with other similar-sized hospitals.

Reducing staff based on attrition rather than by laying off people will lengthen the time in which the hospital expects to make a financial turnaround, but only by about six months.

``The Camden Group said that the turnaround would be successful in a year if you had actual layoffs, a year-and-a-half if there was attrition,'' Wong said.

Other recommendations include renegotiating contracts with managed care firms, which could generate about $6 million to $8 million more in revenue annually, and reducing the number of Medi-Cal reimbursement denials, which can result in $1 million of additional revenue, Wong said.

Along with reducing staff, the hospital can obtain better prices on supply and pharmaceutical costs, Wong said.

The hospital ended the past fiscal year in June with a $5.7 million loss, its first loss in eight years. Since July, the hospital has lost more than $9.1 million.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com