An executive at Allina Health, an 11-hospital system in Minneapolis, is warning that more workforce changes are imminent given the financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Star Tribune.
The health system, which employs nearly 30,000, already has cut hours or furloughed 10,500 workers in lower-volume service lines.The Allina executive said that more cuts are necessary, including to staff and benefits.
"Given the losses we are looking at, we need to go deeper and do more than what was done in that first phase," said Christine Moore, Allina's chief human resources officer, according to the Tribune.
The new workforce changes that will be implemented May 11 will include long-term furloughs, temporary reductions in the full-time workforce and layoffs in areas where volumes are not expected to return to normal levels, according to the report.
Allina also said it would suspend merit pay increases for non-contract staff through April 2021, 401(k) matching contributions through 2020, and such benefits as tuition reimbursement and continuing medical education through 2020.
Allina said that more cuts are necessary because it has seen a dramatic drop in inpatient, emergency department and office visits. In addition, surgical volume is down significantly. These volume disruptions caused revenue to dry up in March and April, according to the report.
Though Allina didn't disclose the anticipated revenue hit from COVID-19 pandemic, the Minnesota Hospital Association has estimated that Minnesota hospitals will collectively report $2.9 billion in losses in the next three months due to the suspension of elective procedures.