Furloughs, layoffs and benefit cuts on table
AAMC in Annapolis facing millions in coronavirus costs
Luminis Health, parent company of Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis and Doctors Community Hospital in Prince George’s County, estimates it will end the 2020 fiscal year with a $13 million operating loss because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite treating the virus’s most critical victims, hospital systems have not escaped mounting financial losses caused by a standstill economy and sedentary social routines. As the state takes hesitant steps toward a new normal and elective procedures start up again, Luminis is cutting costs to close a projected $31 million budget gap in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
“While Luminis Health is a very high performing, successful and financially strong system, the economic impact of COVID-19 has not passed us by,” Luminis Health CEO Tori Bayless told The Capital.
In the next 60 days, Luminis will implement wide-ranging cost-cutting measures aimed at closing the 2021 budget gap.
The company plans to layoff and furlough some additional workers, suspend employer contributions to retirement funds, review consultant contracts, hold vacant positions and reduce both bonuses and merit-based salary increases to close the estimated shortfall.
Bayless said the expected number of layoffs and furloughs across the health system is under review.
The measures are predicted to close the $31 million gap and generate $16 million in operating profit by the end of the 2021fiscal year. The not-for-profit health system also is preparing for a $13 million budget loss by the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
AAMC furloughed 1,100 workers last month and has since brought back 350 employees to treat COVID-19 patients and work in other areas of the hospital. Doctors whose normal practices slowed to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic were offered a 30% pay cut loan to prop up lost income. Luminis plans on bringing back more furloughed workers as outpatient practices and elective surgeries slowly regain momentum.
Bayless and 25 other senior staff at Luminis took a pay cut ranging between 20% to 30% of their annual income. Many of those dollars will be funneled into an employee hardship fund. The fund, created before the pandemic, goes toward employees experiencing sudden traumatic life events that affect their finances, including furloughs, reduced income and other unexpected changes brought by the pandemic.
Bayless, who made over $1.2 million during the 2017 fiscal year according to AAMC’s 990 IRS form, took a 30%, or $360,000, pay cut.
Gov. Larry Hogan gave Maryland hospitals and other clinics permission to reopen and resume money-making elective surgeries and other ambulatory procedures on May 6, but it could be months before patient
Despite treating the virus’s most critical victims, hospital systems have not escaped mounting financial losses caused by a standstill economy and sedentary social routines. As the state takes hesitant steps toward a new normal and elective procedures start up again, Luminis is cutting costs to close a projected $31 million budget gap in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
“While Luminis Health is a very high performing, successful and financially strong system, the economic impact of COVID-19 has not passed us by,” Luminis Health CEO Tori Bayless told The Capital.
In the next 60 days, Luminis will implement wide-ranging cost-cutting measures aimed at closing the 2021 budget gap.
The company plans to layoff and furlough some additional workers, suspend employer contributions to retirement funds, review consultant contracts, hold vacant positions and reduce both bonuses and merit-based salary increases to close the estimated shortfall.
Bayless said the expected number of layoffs and furloughs across the health system is under review.
The measures are predicted to close the $31 million gap and generate $16 million in operating profit by the end of the 2021fiscal year. The not-for-profit health system also is preparing for a $13 million budget loss by the end of the 2020 fiscal year.
AAMC furloughed 1,100 workers last month and has since brought back 350 employees to treat COVID-19 patients and work in other areas of the hospital. Doctors whose normal practices slowed to a halt during the coronavirus pandemic were offered a 30% pay cut loan to prop up lost income. Luminis plans on bringing back more furloughed workers as outpatient practices and elective surgeries slowly regain momentum.
Bayless and 25 other senior staff at Luminis took a pay cut ranging between 20% to 30% of their annual income. Many of those dollars will be funneled into an employee hardship fund. The fund, created before the pandemic, goes toward employees experiencing sudden traumatic life events that affect their finances, including furloughs, reduced income and other unexpected changes brought by the pandemic.
Bayless, who made over $1.2 million during the 2017 fiscal year according to AAMC’s 990 IRS form, took a 30%, or $360,000, pay cut.
Gov. Larry Hogan gave Maryland hospitals and other clinics permission to reopen and resume money-making elective surgeries and other ambulatory procedures on May 6, but it could be months before patient
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