Valley Health System lays off 41 employees

November 20, 2007

By JAMIE AYALA - The Press-Enterprise

HEMET - Valley Health System announced Tuesday a list of steps it plans to take, including layoffs, to prevent hospital closures and further financial losses.

Fred Harder, the new Valley Health CEO, said 41 of the hospitals' nearly 2,000 employees are being released. The district also intends to renegotiate major health plan contracts, consider closing underutilized services, improve purchasing decisions and increase charges for some medical procedures.

The announcement comes two weeks after the defeat of Measure G, which would have approved the sale and privatization of Valley Health, including the Hemet Valley and Menifee Valley medical centers and Moreno Valley Community Hospital, for $135 million to Select HealthCare Solutions of Del Mar.

"Essentially, once we got through the election, it became clear that the landscape had changed and it was critical to figure out what the next steps were," said Harder, whose first day on the job, along with certified public accountant Hubert King, was the day before the election. Both are with Quorum Health Resources, which is now providing management services for the struggling health system.

Patrick Searl, Valley Health board chairman, said in a news release the district must move forward quickly to reorganize or face closing one or more of the hospitals by January. The hospital district has lost more than $11 million in the last four months, according to the release.

"Layoffs are always very difficult, but we had no choice if we wanted to save the other 98 percent of our jobs and keep our hospitals open," Harder said.

Those released Tuesday included full-time technicians, attendants, file clerks, activity coordinators and secretaries. They were given severance packages and preferred hiring for open positions. Harder said he does not anticipate another major staff reduction in the near future.

The focus now, he said, is to survive by finding ways to save money and increase revenue. He said stability needs to be restored and community trust rebuilt.

"Reorganization will be under review and discussion for some time to come," he said.