Editor’s Note: This article by Nora Doyle Barr first appeared in The Valley News on January 21st.
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire’s largest private employer, is aiming to close a $120 million budget gap by the end of September, according to an email sent to employees. Implemented an improvement plan and a “Position Review Process”. .
After the initial hiring freeze, DH officials determined that all open positions at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Clinic were subject to Position Control Review and Recruitment Review by the Clinical Workforce Committee. Valley news. This review is also required for job changes such as employee transfers, adjustments, promotions, and job replacements after an employee leaves the “foreseeable future”.
The Lebanon-based health system will continue to actively recruit several key ‘Tier 1’ positions that are ‘essential to ensuring patient safety and providing quality care’. Such positions include those that allow DH to replace positions currently filled by staffing agencies. Positions that are currently understaffed and have a direct impact on clinical care. Research positions with access to two-year grants. A position needed to meet regulatory requirements, according to Tuesday’s message.
DH spokesperson Audra Burns said in an email on Friday that DHMC and DH clinics are implementing a performance improvement plan “to address the operational and financial challenges in this highly complex national healthcare environment.” I confirmed that I did.
Separate performance improvement plans are also being implemented for visiting nurses and hospices in Vermont and New Hampshire and two DH members at Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, New Hampshire.
The system also includes Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital in Lebanon, Mount Ascutney Hospital and Health Center in Windsor, and New London (NH) Hospital.
“MAHHC has not placed a hiring freeze and continues to actively recruit in many divisions,” Mt. Ascutney CEO Dr. Joseph Perras said in an email Friday. “We continue our longstanding practice of regularly reviewing all open positions to determine if the position is still needed, and new or off-budget positions are always placed under the microscope. .”
Burns said the ongoing labor shortage was the “main cause” of the health system’s financial challenges. In total, the system employs approximately 12,000 people. DHMC and DH clinics had about 800 job openings posted online on Friday. The Cheshire Medical Center had about 150 vacancies, while the three smaller hospitals each had nearly 100 vacancies.
According to DH’s latest financial results, which were filed with creditors in November, the first quarter of the current fiscal year ended on September 30, with $41.4 million ( about 6%) loss occurred. The loss included his $1.8 million in federal stimulus funds, but the health care system did not expect more federal stimulus funds this fiscal year.
DH relied on $98.8 million of Federal Stimulus Funds to achieve near-breakeven results in the fiscal year ended June 30, and $22.1 million, less than 1% against its $2.9 billion operating budget of losses.
Losses reported in November were largely due to staffing issues, including a national nurse shortage, driving up the cost of temporary nurses. They are also challenged by the inability to discharge patients to other locations in a timely manner. Meanwhile, Covid-19 continues to cause problems in his supply chain, including product shortages and rising costs of medicines.
As a result, Dan Jantzen, DH’s CFO, told bondholders in November that DH was “cutting capital spending where possible to improve liquidity.”
He also said that DH and its members “continue to explore all options to improve financial performance.”
Fitch Ratings called DH’s bond rating “stable” in December, and when it confirmed its “A” rating, it endorsed the notion that DH could overcome its current challenges. Fitch’s December 14 statement reflected DH’s role as “a leading acute care provider in a broad, multi-state, demographically stable market.”
The rating agency said it believes DH’s “strong market position” and “high vision patient composition” will allow it to “maintain a solid financial profile” in the future.
In a statement this week, DH officials said the organization’s performance improvement plan task force is focused on three key areas: increasing revenue, improving margins and reducing expenses.
Revenue-wise, DH aims to increase its ability to meet demand for outpatient services at DHMC and clinics in southern New Hampshire. Improve coding and documentation to ensure ‘proper reimbursement’ for services. We are also improving premiums paid by private insurers by starting negotiations for multi-year contracts ahead of schedule.
To address improving margins, DH is looking to grow its services, including expansion of its pharmacy services, where new costs will be covered by increased revenues.
To keep costs down, DH is trying to reduce the cost of consumables. Find more efficient ways to manage your workforce. We welcome suggestions for further ideas from our employees.
Meanwhile, DHMC plans to open a new $150 million patient pavilion this spring. The pavilion, funded before the Covid-19 pandemic, will open 64 new beds in early May, while DHMC will at the same time allocate 36 patient beds for renovations, according to an employee email this week. Close the care unit. So you only need to place an extra 28 floors of him to get started. DH is now hiring staff and working to make sure the new beds are ready to take care of people.
“We are seeing more patients than ever before,” the email said. “We have to meet the increased demand by providing quality care in the most medically appropriate settings, which are often academic medical centers.”
In addition, DH expects to benefit from related revenue increases.
“Expanding access positions us for the future and will have a positive impact on our financial performance,” the email said.
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