Elkton, Md.-based Union Hospital eliminated 32 positions Jan. 10, including senior staff roles, as part of efforts to reorganize operations, according to a Cecil Whig report.
Richard Szumel, MD, the hospital's president and CEO, told the Whig the job cuts were "from the executive team on down, including a number of directors and managers."
Leaders said the job cuts were necessary to "right-size" the hospital.
"We've noticed for some time that we needed to do a better job with expense management. We've devised a revitalization plan, and unfortunately the first part of that was a workforce reduction," Dr. Szumel told the Whig.
The layoff news follows Union Hospital's failed merger bid with Baltimore-based LifeBridge Health. According to the report, the merger failed after the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission reviewed the hospital's total cost of care and questions arose about revenue uncertainty.
Dr. Szumel told the Whig that cutting positions was an attempt to address the hospital's total cost of care, but patient volume growth is another important piece of the hospital's financial picture, and the organization is working to address that.
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