Article
In an effort to achieve a balanced budget in Fiscal Year 2004, Texoma Medical Center has implemented a reduction in its workforce. Twenty (20) employees were affected by the reduction on Monday, February 9th. These employee reductions represent 1.4 percent of the total workforce. The workforce reduction is the result of increasing numbers of uninsured patients and bad debt that TMC has faced in recent years.
"This is a very sad day for all of us at TMC," said W. Mackey Watkins, MD, President/CEO of Texoma HealthCare System. "The combination of denied, delayed or reduced payments from insurers; the ever growing amount of charity care that we have and the increased amounts of uncompensated care is affecting hospitals and healthcare systems nationwide. These factors are complicated further by increases in supplies and materials expense that TMC must acquire to provide services to its patients. To lessen the impact on staff, we have, wherever possible, eliminated positions that were already vacant. However, some valued employees have lost their jobs. While we have been forced to eliminate positions that we would prefer to keep, we remain confident that the reductions will not have a negative impact on the quality of our patient care," continued Dr. Watkins.
In addition to workforce reductions, TMC is taking other steps to reduce costs that are not related to labor. "Despite these challenges, our patients should know that they will receive high quality of care at Texoma Medical Center. Our commitment and dedication to high-quality patient care remains constant."