Blaming “the weak economy, high unemployment and the shift in the way insurance companies pay for care,” Hoag Hospital today announced it is cutting about 3.5 percent of its 5,000-person workforce, or about 175 jobs.
In a statement, the hospital stressed that it is not laying off any physicians, and that patient care is the organization’s “No. 1 priority.”
Hospital spokesperson Nina Robinson was unable to say how many of the job cuts would be accomplished through attrition and how many involved actual layoffs. Affected employees were notified today, she said.
The cuts are spread over the hospital’s two campuses, in Newport Beach and Irvine, and its network of clinics and other facilities, Robinson said.
I was laid off yesterday. I worked at Hoag Hospital for almost 10 years and I worked in Respiratory Therapy. My former CEO is the real reason almost 200 of us lost our job yesterday. I was told that I was being laid off due to Healthcare reform and a bad economy. But the truth of the matter is the CEO, Dr. Afable has been at Hoag now for about 5 years well before the 2008 market crash and before the election of our current president. In that 5 year period he has turned a 1 billion dollar surplus of cash into a 500 million dollar loss for the hospital. I checked on Moody’s rating website about the financial health of Hoag. And it is not good. The lost money is a combination of 5 yrs worth of one bad decision after another. Paying over 100 million for the Hoag Irvine acquisition which has been losing money hand over fist, a loosing credit default swap agreement in the millions with Citibank as the counter party and numerous other costly projects that have yielded nothing. incompetent middle managers, and just plain spend spend spend agenda with now oversight or policing. unfortunately We saw many signs of financial sickness. We starting getting our hours cut, reducing food items for staff, and other strange things. We are not a union hospital. Hoag has never had a Union but after this horrible experience I wished we did. I find it hilarious that the 2 most profitable hospitals in Orange county are UCI and Kaiser, whom have surpluses of cash on reserve per Moodys & S&P. The only Union Hospitals in Town.LOL. And yet Orange County for-profits and not for profits crumbling. Go figure.
I will miss all my friends in Respiratory and Nursing. God Speed to you all and I hope you guys convince the Board to get New Leadership, and find someone who does not bring excuses to the table but real solutions and profitability. I will miss you all. Dave. V.