Longmont United Hospital is laying off employees.

The hospital announced Friday that it will reduce staff by about 4 percent in order to cut costs and increase efficiency.

While Longmont United leaders are still determining the precise number of jobs that will be eliminated, hospital spokeswoman Kirsten Pfotenhauer said the total number of layoffs will be fewer than 30.

“Things are still very fluid and we are still notifying our associates today,” she said.

Pfotenhauer said the staffing cuts “are not in specific job types. They are from across the hospital from a variety of departments, both clinical and nonclinical.”

“We took a very hard look at every position we have,” she said.

The hospital, which was taken over in 2015 by the regional health care network Centura Health, employees about 800 people.

“As the landscape of health care changes, nationally and locally, organizations everywhere are being asked to reevaluate how they do business,” Longmont United’s interim president Joe Tasse said in a statement. “Our community is relying on us to make the changes needed while ensuring the high quality of care they’ve come to expect from us continues.”

Pfotenhauer said, “This is a national issue — health care costs continue to rise.”

“Hospitals and health care facilities across the country are having to re-evaluate how they do business and be as efficient as the possibly can.”

Part of the reason for the need to shift the hospital’s business model — and shed employees — relates to shorter in-patient stays, she said.

“We are able to do a lot of things (in) outpatient (facilities), which is great for our patients,” Pfotenhauer said. “Unfortunately, from a business standpoint, that means we have a decrease in our inpatient numbers.”

“We have to be really efficient in what we do here,” she said.

A news release announcing the layoffs also cites the “recent increase in available inpatient beds within the community” as a factor in the need for staff cuts.

UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital opened in August 2017 about five miles east of Longmont United. The new facility added 53 new inpatient beds.

Pfotenhauer said the hospital does not expect more layoffs in the near future.

Despite the staffing cuts, “we are not getting rid of any of our services,” Pfotenhauer said. The layoffs “are not going to affect our ability to provide care to our patients.”

Lucas High: 303-684-5310, lhigh@times-call.com, twtter.com/lucashigh