FARMINGTON – Hospital officials announced Friday that they plan to reduce expenses by $1 million, cutting staff, equipment and supplies.

Franklin Memorial Hospital President Richard Batt said there are several reasons the hospital has to reduce spending:

• Expenses above budget because of more patients in the last six months.

• $830,000 in MaineCare cuts a few months ago.

• MaineCare not fully funding what the hospital does.

• $6 million owed the hospital for services provided to MaineCare patients.

Batt said staff cuts will be made by reducing the hours of per diem staff and transferring employees to vacant or anticipated openings.

There will be some layoffs, Batt said, but it is unknown how many until the transfers take place.

The staff cuts are planned in the clinical area, which includes nurses, laboratory workers, and radiologists, because the last couple cuts were made in nonclinical services.

The hospital has a $53 million budget, which would be reduced to $52 million after cuts. There are about 550 employees who work full and part time at the hospital, Batt said.

Other reductions are being made by limiting financial education assistance to staff taking advanced classes in their professional field, limiting conferences and seminars, and limiting buying new equipment and supplies, Batt said.

Hospital leaders have been holding informational sessions with staff to outline the financial problem and the impact. Employees are contributing their ideas on how to reduce expenses with the least impact on patients and services, Vice President Jill Berry Bowen stated in a release.

“We regret the reductions, but we find it necessary to do so,” Berry Bowen stated. “The cutbacks will be made in a way to minimize the impact on our patients and staff. It is especially difficult for us to make further cuts as we are one of the lower cost hospitals in Maine, although our quality and service are among the best in New England. We intend to protect our high quality in the way we make the reductions.”

In addition to the MaineCare reimbursement cuts, the hospital faces a state tax estimated at $284,000 due by May 1 and another tax of about $284,000 for the next fiscal year will be assessed and due in July.

The hospital expects to be reimbursed about the same amount as the taxes they pay in the future, Batt said.

The state plans to use about $16 million paid in taxes by hospitals to get federal funds – MaineCare is supported federally $2 to Maine’s $1 – and return money to the hospitals and use the remainder to support the MaineCare program, Batt said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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