Monadnock Community Hospital furloughed 100 employees – about 20 percent of the hospital’s staff – on Friday, citing declining revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I recognize that this news is extremely stressful to our employees and their families. We have to remember that this is a temporary action intended to assure that MCH is financially sustainable for many years to come,” said MCH President and CEO Cyndee McGuire in a press release Friday afternoon.
MCH saw a 60 percent drop in patient volume as the hospital shut down non-critical medical services to prepare to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
“In just one month, March, MCH lost $1.7 million, and the projected monthly loss over the next year is expected to fall between $3 million and $4 million per month or a total of $24 million by the end of our Fiscal Year ending September 30, 2020. These losses are unprecedented and unsustainable,” the release states.
The furloughs were effective May 8 and are planned to stay in place for at least 90 days, during which time employees will retain their health insurance benefits with MCH paying the employees’s portion of the premiums. McGuire said all the furloughed employees are eligible for unemployment benefits.
“Employees will be brought back earlier than the 90 days if patient volumes increase,” McGuire said Monday afternoon.
The furloughs affected employees on both the clinical and non-clinical sides of MCH’s operations.
“Every level of the organization was impacted by the temporary actions of furloughs and pay reductions,” McGuire said.
Senior leadership will take a 10 percent pay cut, according to the release, and physicians and director/manager level leaders will take a 5 percent pay cut.
The news came just a week after New Hampshire hospitals got the go-ahead to reopen for time-sensitive health care services and procedures, a process McGuire said is still underway.
“We are working on a plan to bring back some services in Radiology, Surgery, and Laboratory, and Physical Therapy,” McGuire said. “Oncology services have not been interrupted in most cases.”
McGuire said primary care visit volumes via telemedicine are already increasing.
MCH applied for and received some federal grant money, but not enough to offset their losses, the release states.
“Every hospital in the country is dealing with these challenges,” McGuire said. “We must be very cautious about managing our financial resources as tightly as possible so that we can sustain the future of MCH and preserve the healthcare services our community depends upon for the long term. It has been very difficult to make this decision that impacts our dedicated employees.”