Coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on outpatient, elective surgeries

NEW BEDFORD — Not even hospital workers are escaping the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

In a letter obtained by The Standard-Times sent to Southcoast Health employees Thursday, President and CEO Keith Hovan told employees that the not-for-profit organization is “absorbing deep revenue losses amid declines in nearly all non-COVID-19 patient volume, and the demands of maintaining clinical excellence in such an adverse environment make our current trajectory unsustainable.”

The hospital group is losing money after suspending elective surgeries, temporarily closing facilities, and discontinuing most outpatient service to focus their resources on their response to the pandemic.

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The letter then goes on to list actions the organization is taking “to address our new realities.”

The actions include furloughing a limited number of staff not actively involved in patient care efforts, doing away with annual merit increases for all directors and above leaders that had been scheduled to go into effect in 2020, Hovan foregoing his own salary while all other executives take a reduction in salary, and implementing a hiring freeze for positions that are not essential in COVID-19 efforts and the immediate viability of Southcoast.

Other members of management and leadership have volunteered to take salary reductions or have offered to contribute to the Southcoast Annual Fund, according to Hovan.

In a press release sent out by Southcoast Thursday, it stated the organization will pay furloughed employees’ portion of health insurance premiums through June 30, and that current group benefits coverage for vision, life insurance, long-term disability, short-term disability and flexible spending accounts can be retained.

Affected employees will receive verbal notification from their supervisors, along with more detailed written information in the coming days, according to the press release.

When asked what types of employees would be impacted by the furloughs, Southcoast Public Information Officer Shawn Badgley said, "These furloughs will be felt primarily by staff across the Southcoast system who are not actively involved in patient care. Affected employees would include those in administrative and professional positions, for instance, as opposed to those in clinical roles or services like nutritional and environmental who support our frontline healthcare workers and contribute to patient experience."

Hovan called the actions “necessary and appropriate as Southcoast’s clinical and operational resources are concentrated on our COVID-19 response.”

The CEO made sure to commend the actions being taken by providers, nurses clinical staff and support services saying they “have met the moment with unmatched determination and courage.”

Despite the announcement of furloughs and salary cuts, Hovan said he is confident Southcoast is positioned to effectively care for the patients and communities it serves and protect frontline employees through the worst of the pandemic.

Badgley said across their three hospitals, which include St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Charlton Memorial in Fall River, and Tobey Hospital in Wareham, Southcoast is currently treating 19 inpatients who have tested positive for COVID-19.

As part of their response to the pandemic, Badgley said they are setting up tents for alternate/additional emergency department space at all three hospitals.

The organization is preparing for a surge related to COVID-19 anticipated to take place this month, Badgley said, and the measures Hovan announced Thursday are, “to ensure that all available resources – staffing, supplies, and funds – can be fully focused on patient care, certainly in the context of the coronavirus, but also for other conditions and emergencies that don’t stop happening just because there’s an ongoing crisis.”

Badgley said Southcoast Health hopes to recall all affected employees back to work as quickly as possible.

Some nurses had already seen a reduction in hours before the announcement of the furloughs on Thursday.

St. Luke’s RN Kate Duff works in a smaller unit in endoscopy and said her unit has been on-call since the pandemic began to hit Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago.

“So it’s already kind of impacted us anyway because I’m only working one or two days a week right now,” Duff said on Thursday.

According to Duff, a lot of her co-workers have been filing for unemployment to bridge the gap between the hours they’re getting now and the hours they used to work.

They’re using the unemployment funds to make ends meet until they’re able to help out the rest of the hospital, Duff said.

Duff said it’s not clear if nurses are going to be furloughed and their union, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, is in discussions with Southcoast Health Administration about it right now and they haven’t agreed on anything concrete.

Though, Duff said, she thinks some nurses who care for elderly family members or are high-risk themselves will choose the option to be furloughed.

The union has been discussing the possibility of bringing back nurses from non-emergency departments that have been on-call to help out once the surge starts with the hospital administration.

“I think we’ll definitely be able to pitch in once things get crazy,” Duff said, “The thing about nurses is we always want to help so it’s a no-brainer, I think we’ll be able to implement team nursing for people that haven’t been on the floor in a while.”

Duff is grateful to have a voices in these discussions with the administration, she said, attributing it to the fact the nurses unionized last year.

Duff said she doesn’t think anyone is really prepared across the country to deal with the pandemic, “but I think we’re trying the best we can and working together has been super helpful.”