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Wednesday, March 17, 2010
UNMH: Job Cuts Tied To Medicaid
FOR THE RECORD: This story reported Medicaid reimbursements to University of New Mexico Hospital at $27.4 million in 2009. It should have said the amount was $274 million.
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
By 2010 Olivier Uyttebrouck
Journal Staff Writer
University of New Mexico Hospital plans to eliminate 24 jobs by May 8 although the hospital's medical staff overall is expected to grow this year, a UNMH spokesman said.
UNMH cited an expected decline of $6 million in Medicaid reimbursements in 2010 as a reason for the job cuts. UNMH received $274 million in Medicaid reimbursements in 2009.
The state Human Services Department cut Medicaid provider rates by 3 percent in December. The cuts in payments to hospitals, doctors and other Medicaid providers were part of $20 million in spending cuts the agency enacted last year to minimize a projected deficit up to $300 million this year.
The positions UNMH plans to eliminate include clerical and records division jobs and social workers, UNMH spokesman Sam Giammo said.
Some of the job cuts reflect UNMH's move to electronic record keeping, which reduced the hospital's need for records division staff, he said.
The hospital also expects to find other jobs for staff members affected by the job cuts, Giammo said.
But the move is unlikely to affect the continued growth of UNMH's staff, he said.
UNM's medical staff has grown significantly with the opening in August of the new Cancer Treatment and Clinical Research Facility. In 2007, UNMH opened the Children's Hospital and the Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion.
The hospital's staff grew 5 percent to 5,874 full and part-time employees in the year ending Jan. 31, Giammo said.
That growth is expected to continue this year, Giammo said. "The overall picture is that we're still hiring," he said.
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