Memorial Health Care System is “restructuring” and reducing its workforce, leaders announced Thursday.
Leaders are cutting 70 jobs, which they said is less than 2 percent of employees.
Memorial Health Care System President and CEO James M. Hobson said in a prepared statement that since the recession and the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the health care industry is undergoing a “transformational change.”
He said those in the health care industry must change to respond to the “pressure of health care reform.”
“Hospitals across the nation are faced with decreasing reimbursement from commercial payers, while the number of Medicare enrollees swells,” he said. “At Memorial, we’ve implemented initiatives to sharpen our focus on the core competencies of the health system and achieve best in class in quality, cost and the patient experience.”
Memorial is currently in a negotiation dispute with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee over reimbursement rates.
When a person with BCBST insurance visits Memorial, the insurer reimburses the hospital for a portion of those costs.
The current dispute is about how much the insurer will reimburse the hospital.
BCBST leaders don’t want to pay a double-digit increase, according to the company’s website, which officials are using to keep customers updated on the issue.
But Lisa McCluskey, vice president of marketing communications for Memorial, said last week that leaders are simply asking for “fair rate increases to keep up with the cost of delivering” high-quality care.
The current contract expires July 31.
Information from: Nooga.com
