[May 16, 2008]

Temporary layoffs at hospital continue

(The Mountaineer Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 16--Haywood Regional Medical Center employees experiencing temporary layoffs are finding they have to perform job searches to receive unemployment benefits.

Due to a snafu at the hospital, a letter to the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina advising the agency of temporary layoffs did not arrive, so staff applying for benefits have to apply to two jobs a week to receive benefits.

If a layoff is temporary, an employer is required to send the commission a letter each week the layoff is effective to allow employees to collect benefits without performing the required job search.

"We thought we had it in by e-mail," said Al Byers, interim CEO and president of HRMC. "Either way, it's not going to make a lot of difference because it's two weeks. But we are working with the Employment Commission to correct that."?

Those filing for unemployment compensation, whether it is temporary or permanent, have a one-week waiting period before receiving their first payment.

As of Thursday, between 100 and 110 employees had been laid off and were working no hours, Byers told the hospital governing board. All employees had their hours reduced, however, with the reductions being anywhere from 10 percent upward.

Virginia Gribble, manager of the Waynesville Employment Security Commission office, said while her agency does not give out specific numbers, there have been "quite a few" people applying for unemployment benefits.

"We are scheduling them and working them into regular claims so they can get paid as quickly as possible," Gribble said. "Our goal is to get them paid. We expect they'll all go back to the hospital -- we hope they do -- but we don't know when."

Byers said that while some departments have had more temporary layoffs than others, all employees of Haywood Regional are affected.

"We're all impacted. I'm impacted," Byers said. "I'm off today (May 15) without pay. Everybody is impacted and we're all taking up the slack in certain areas, which is necessary financially if we want to survive."

While some employees have taken two, three or four days off, others are off a full two weeks, Byers said.

"It was a very difficult decision, but we felt it was necessary," he said. "We postponed this as long as we could, and this allows us to have enough funds to extend through the month of July, just in case we don't get our numbers back. This is a sacrifice on everybody's part, and we're trying to make it as fair as possible, but we fully intend on everybody to be back at work."

With today being the end of the first week of the two-week layoffs, Byers said the situation will be reassessed on Memorial Day.

It is unknown when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will return to Haywood Regional for its second inspection. The hospital passed the first one in April, which evaluated those areas which caused the hospital to lose Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements in February.

The second survey will cover the entire hospital, and once passed, Haywood Regional will once again receive reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid immediately.

While Byers said he has contact with CMS on a daily basis, he does not know when they will return for the next inspection.

"They cannot tell me by law," he said. "It has to be unannounced."

It is nearing the end of a 30-day "reasonable assurance" period between inspections, so survey teams can arrive at the hospital at any time. Byers said HRMC is ready.

"We're focusing our attention on the survey, and even today, we are training, monitoring and making improvements," he said. "We're keeping our energy up."

As of Thursday morning, Haywood Regional had 10 patients.

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