By Phil Galewitz, The Palm Beach Post, Fla.
Nov. 11–Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, which lost $16 million last year, laid off 12 managers this week, hospital officials confirmed Thursday.
“Like most hospitals in the area, we continually evaluate our staffing to make sure it is aligned with our volumes and the services we provide,” the hospital said in a statement. “We anticipate that approximately twelve positions not related to direct patient care will be affected.”
The layoffs at 326-bed Good Samaritan come less than a week after Jupiter Medical Center said it was cutting 23 administrative positions in a $2 million cost-cutting move.
Employees who were laid off at Good Sam — including some who have been with the hospital for more than 20 years — were immediately escorted from the hospital, sources said. Among those positions cut were the director of physical therapy and director of obstetrics, sources said. The laid off employees were told they could apply to work at other Tenet hospitals.
Good Sam is one of five Palm Beach County hospitals owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which has seen its stock plummet the past two years as it tried to rebound from an accounting scandal. Last week, Tenet said it lost $408 million in the third quarter, compared with a $70 million loss in the same period a year ago.
Good Sam is one of the most visible hospitals in the county because of its location on Flagler Drive where patients on upper floors enjoy views of the Atlantic Ocean and the town of Palm Beach. But the hospital has suffered in the past few years as the population has moved west, north and south.
The hospital’s average occupancy has hovered at about 40 percent the past five years, compared with 65 percent average occupancy hospital rate in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, according to the Treasure Coast Health Council. Only Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach had a lower occupancy level last year.
Good Sam’s scenic location along the Intracoastal Waterway is not always good for business. That’s because it sits in a flood zone.
The hospital had to close for a few days in September 2004 as Hurricane Frances approached the county. It was the first time the hospital closed in its 85-year history.
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