By Nick Buglione
Turan made the announcement at a Sept. 22 meeting before the Nassau Health Care Corporation board of directors and an auditorium filled with nurses, doctors and other NUMC staff.
The cuts mean that about 300 corporation employees will lose their jobs, including clinical and non-clinical workers. In addition to the NUMC in East Meadow, the NHCC runs the A. Holly Extended Care Facility as well as seven community health centers in the county.
"We're not ready to indicate the depth of cuts in particular departments," said Turan, who noted that the cuts will be made in the near future. "We have no choice but to implement difficult cost-cutting measures."
Though he would not elaborate on which employees would be let go and what specific health-care services might be impacted, Turan said the layoffs should save the corporation $5.65 million in 2003 and $25 million in 2004.
"If Mr. Turan and hospital management had been doing their jobs all along, they wouldn't be in the situation in which they have placed themselves," said Rachel Langert, a spokeswoman for the Civil Service Employees Association's Long Island region, the union that represents many corporation and NUMC employees. "It is not the job of clerks, cleaners and dietitians to balance the hospitals books and manage the facility's financial affairs. And we will not stand for management to use their incompetence as an excuse to punish the people who actually make this hospital run every day."
Formed in 1999, the NHCC has an annual budget of nearly $476 million but has lost money every year since its inception. The losses total $83 million through 2002, according to state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.
The announcement of the cuts came in partial response to the state comptroller's audit, released Sept. 16, that called into question the corporation's plan to reduce its deficit. "NUMC is working on its second plan to balance its budget," Hevesi said. "The first failed and the second has large holes. If nothing changes, the system could run out of cash by the end of next year."
The NHCC's plan to save $70.5 million over three years and balance its budget is shaky at best, the audit found, because it relies on initiatives yet to be implemented and is dependent on factors beyond the corporation's control.
While corporation officials planned to lower utility costs over the next two years by attracting additional funding from the county or by seeking the services of a cheaper vendor, auditors said the corporation had not acted on either of these strategies.
The audit also said that the corporation's plan factored in future savings based on a collective-bargaining agreement with staff that is still being negotiated.
"Clearly, it's time for close outside supervision of [the corporation's] management," Hevesi said. He also noted that unless serious action is taken, the corporation could lose as much as $20 million by the end of this year.
"Unfortunately, [the corporation's] financial condition has a significant relationship to Nassau County's efforts to recover from the fiscal mismanagement of the 1990s," said Howard Weitzman, Nassau County comptroller.
If the corporation were to collapse, the financially strapped county would inherit the $256 million in debt-service payments it owes on the bonds issued to get the corporation up and running.
On the same day the state comptroller's report was released, Weitzman announced that he would monitor the NHCC's cash balances on a monthly basis after the discovery of a sharp decrease in its accounts during the first eight months of this year. The corporation began 2003 with $56.4 million in cash and cash equivalents, a figure Weitzman said fell to $42.8 million by June 30 and $33.5 a month later.
"While it is true that cash accounts are subject to normal fluctuations, it is still possible over time to discern a trend," Weitzman said. "It is clear from our review that [the corporation's] cash accounts are falling at an alarming rate."
A significant increase in the corporation's mandatory contributions to the state pension plan has complicated its slow climb out of debt, Turan said. This year alone, the NHCC's contributions will jump from $1.5 million to $10 million. "And they're telling us it's going to increase to $27 million next year," Turan said.
He also pointed out that the corporation pays some $20 million a year to care for indigent residents, even though the county compensates it for these services to the tune of $13 million.
This marks the second time in just under two years that the NHCC is cutting staff. At the beginning of 2002, 343 Nassau University Medical Center employees were laid off to trim the deficit that the corporation still grapples with today.
Not all members of the corporation's board of directors agree with the cutbacks, though. "I think we're damaging our outlook and how other people view us as a medical center if we keep diluting the physician base," said Rita Wallace, a board member.
Board member Ronald Brinn expressed pointed opposition to the cuts. "I am opposed to the drastic reducing in expenses based on medical and support staff," Brinn said. "It would have a negative impact on the care of the hospital."
