Memorial Hospital is located at 2525 de Sales Avenue in Chattanooga.Memorial Health Care System announced layoffs of about 70 people Thursday, the third area hospital to cut staff this year.
In a news release, Memorial President and CEO James Hobson cited the economic recession and hospital reform as reasons for the cuts. Changes in the hospital industry mean shifts to outpatient settings and other ways to deliver health care, he said, and more people also are delaying medical care or forgoing elective procedures.
“Those shifts in the care delivery call us to refine our staffing structure so resources are appropriately allocated for optimum service to our patients,” Hobson said in the release. “Just as we adopt national quality benchmarks for the delivery of clinical care, we acknowledge that being a best-in-class hospital means we must continually evaluate how we deliver that care to ensure our workforce meets evolving patient needs.”
On Thursday, Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Lisa McCluskey said the employee layoffs are not directly related to stalled negotiations over payment rates from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. But she said low reimbursements from the insurer make it difficult to handle rising expenses at the hospital.
Under the federal Affordable Care Act, hospitals also will see a reduction in federal reimbursements but may also see an increase in patients because more people will have insurance coverage. However, investment services have offered a mixed assessment on whether the law will result in a net benefit to hospitals.