‘ABSOLUTE FINANCIAL NIGHTMARE’

Hospitals Forced to Lay Off Staff as Coronavirus Pandemic Hits Cashflow, Says Report

Facilities across the U.S. have been forced to cut corners and lay off staff as non-essential surgeries and outpatient procedures were halted.

Hospitals and clinics across the U.S. are laying off staff who would normally support what are now considered non-essential surgeries and procedures as the coronavirus pandemic rumbles on, The Washington Post reports. Last week Bon Secours Mercy Health, which runs 51 hospitals in seven U.S. states, furloughed 700 workers. This week, Ballad Health, which runs 21 hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia, laid off 1,300 employees and forced pay cuts on executives. The move to furlough workers not related to coronavirus treatment is in part to free up hospital beds and to keep the number of non-medical staff working in facilities to a minimum to mitigate the spread of the virus. The Inspector General for the Health and Human Services Department said the layoffs were a result of the cash-crunch caused by the pandemic. “Hospitals reported laying off staff due to financial difficulties, which further exacerbated workforce shortages and the hospitals’ ability to care for COVID-19 patients and the routine patient population,” the IG wrote in a report. “One administrator stated that it had been ‘an absolute financial nightmare for hospitals.’”