Baxter Regional Medical Center (BRMC) has announced an additional round of furloughs at the facility as a consequence of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.In a release, the facility cited the Arkansas Department of Health’s directive on elective surgeries in forcing the hospital to initiate Phase II of an Alignment of Resources. The directive was issued to all health facilities and clinicians regarding mandatory actions for procedures, testing and office visits.
Hospital officials declined to comment on how many employees are affected, but said they will discuss the details of the plan Friday morning during the COVID-19 update at 7 a.m. on KTLO and Classic Hits.
“This mandate is having an additional negative impact on Baxter Regional’s patient volumes,” say BRMC officials. “Baxter Regional has worked closely with their physicians to better estimate future volumes, types of procedures, testing, and visits affected within the organization while under this mandate.”
Due to this expanded decrease in volume, Baxter Regional says it has again had to make some very difficult, but necessary, decisions to respond to these challenges and prepare the organization so that even after the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be able to remain open, continue to provide high-quality care and fulfill its purpose of remaining comprehensive, independent and community driven.
Baxter Regional anticipates the additional steps that it is taking to be short term, but the actions will unfortunately affect several of its partners in care. The hospital will continue to reduce individuals’ hours to match its lower volumes. To match these low volumes, some hour reductions will include additional furloughs.
The hospital says it will evaluate these decisions every four weeks as it continues to monitor the COVID-19 outbreak and rely on governmental guidance and industry best practices, with respect to future decisions. Health insurance for additional impacted employees will remain in effect during the furlough, and they may be eligible for unemployment compensation.
“COVID-19 and social distancing are causing many unexpected, unintended and difficult consequences,” the hospital says. “Baxter Regional realizes that these actions may cause hardship, but is confident they will get through this together and overcome these challenges.”
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