Irvine, California-based Alecto Healthcare Services has announced a reduction-in-force of 70 employees in its recently purchased Wheeling, West Virginia-based Ohio Valley Medical Center (OVMC) and Martins Ferry, Ohio-based East Ohio Regional Hospital (EORH).
According to the CEO of OVMC and EORH, Daniel Dunmyer, “We have been working very hard to achieve reductions in operating costs while improving efficiencies. Unfortunately, these measures have not yet resulted in sufficient cost savings to our hospitals. Our administrative team reviewed the staffing levels in each department to ensure the operational needs of the two facilities continue to be met, as well as to address areas where changes can be made.”
The company appears to be caught-up in the same type of problems facing similarly situated facilities who point to the increased costs of maintaining aging facilities, a decline in patient census, and reductions and restrictions relating to Medicare reimbursements.
Both facilities, acquired in 2017 by Alecto were facing financial and operational difficulties at the time of purchase. Alecto was also facing a $30 million legal action by Antelope Valley Hospital in California which alleges that “Alecto slashed the hospital's nursing staff, mismanaged the hospital's IT processes and botched the management of essential hospital equipment, all in the name of cutting costs.”
Prudence should dictate that employees of both facilities should increase their vigilance of the ongoing developments and update their exit strategies in case of further financial or operational troubles.
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