By Tiffany Green

STAFF WRITER

Jim Weidner, president and CEO of Cullman Regional Medical Center, attempted to ease employee concerns about budget cutbacks at a series of employee meetings last week.

“We have no calls for layoffs,” Weidner said.

Weidner met with employees to answer questions they had about the cost reduction plan the hospital is putting into place soon.

“The economy is taking its toll on industry, and the hospital is no different,” Weidner said.

The hospital reported a $3.5 million loss for the fiscal year ending June 30. This is $500,000 more than the hospital originally reported.

Weidner said the main reasons for the loss are write-offs from patients with no insurance who do not pay their bills, along with the loss of hospital investments in stocks and bonds which have been affected in the pension plan and malpractice fund.

The total loss in investments has been $800,000.

“The economy has actually hurt us more than we reported,” Weidner said.

Weidner discussed four areas that will be included in the cost reduction plan.

“The first area is making sure we have the right number of staff to handle the volume of patients we see,” Weidner said.

This will include some departments being asked to reduce the number of hours of some workers, starting with part-time employees, Weidner said, some of the highest costs come from part-time employee.

One of the departments already cutting back is the Human Resources Department. Weidner said Jim Miller, who was Vice President of Human Resources was let go two weeks ago.

“I made the decision to eliminate his position,” Weidner said. “It had nothing to do with Jim’s competency.”

Weidner said this was to reduce cost and the hospital does not plan to fill this position.

“We have no other position for him within our organization,” Weidner said.

Weidner would not comment on how much the hospital will save.

Weidner also said Maria Stanford will now be Marketing and Community Development Director.

Her former title was Assistant Vice-President of Marketing and Community Development. Weidner said this was a lowered position, but would not comment on if she would be receiving a decrease in pay.

Miller and Stanford declined to comment on the story.

Weidner said people leaving either voluntarily or involuntarily will be replaced on a if-needed basis.

“We have a committee to review if certain position need to be replaced,” Weidner said.

A second part of the plan will be to reduce employee benefits.

Weidner described it as “a reduction in employee benefits to bring them in line with other hospitals in our area.”

“The third part of the plan will be to combine certain departments to provide the same level of care,” Weidner said.

“We have over 100 departments and we need to consolidate those in order to get economy of scale,” Weidner said.

The fourth aspect of the plan involves vendors.

“The expenses we currently pay to outside vendors we will now bring in house,” Weidner said.

Another part of the plan will be to increase volume.

“We will continue to look for ways to provide better services to those who seek doctors in Birmingham,” Weidner said.

The hospital wants to increase the doctors in the areas of cardiology and cancer care.

The final aspect will be to provide the best care to the community, Weidner said.

“We are a leader in Alabama and in the nation in quality outcomes and patient satisfaction,” he said. “Part of our mission is to provide efficient healthcare and to be a good stewards of community resources.”

Weidner said the hospital will continue to provide for the community.

“We will continue to be successful and continue to provide healthcare to our community,” Weidner said.

‰ Tiffany Green can be reached by e-mail at Tgreen@cullmantimes.com or by telephone at 734-2131, ext. 221.