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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 3, 2003

St. Francis makeover may enact job cuts

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Eleven months after ending a painful nurses strike by agreeing to a three-year contract with raises and no staff-level reductions, St. Francis Healthcare System is planning a restructuring that could include job cuts.

St. Francis, in a letter to employees dated Nov. 28, described a general overview of coming measures to reduce costs and help the financially struggling healthcare provider.

The letter said details would be worked out over the next few weeks, but warned of possible job eliminations, consolidated patient services and overall restructured hospital facilities and programs.

St. Francis spokeswoman Teri Tanaka yesterday said the hospital could not give a rough approximation or range of how many employees might be affected in which positions by the contemplated cuts.

Sister Beatrice Tom, St. Francis chief executive officer, in the letter said assistance for affected employees would be provided where possible and that "we are deeply concerned about the effect these decisions may have on individual employees and their families."

St. Francis had been identifying cost-cutting measures over the past month, according to the letter, which added that some gains realized were not sufficient.

The roughly 2,000-employee nonprofit organization, which operates hospitals St. Francis Medical Center in Liliha and St. Francis-West in 'Ewa plus several subsidiaries statewide, has tried for more than three years to achieve financial stability.

St. Francis has said it has greater difficulty with higher medical costs and lower government reimbursement because 80 percent of its patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, which means lower reimbursements for caring for the elderly and the poor.

Two years ago, St. Francis eliminated 150 jobs after a more minor restructuring in 2000. A year ago, the hospital still had financial difficulties entering contract negotiations with about 400 nurses.

Sometimes-bitter negotiations led to a seven-week strike, which was resolved in January, with a three-year contract providing an 18 percent raise, beginning with a 4 percent raise in the first year.

Claudine Tomasa, labor relations specialist for the Hawai'i Nurses' Association, said union members working at St. Francis are concerned that job and service cuts may affect their care of patients.

"The nurses are really concerned if they are going to be cutting," Tomasa said. "They know that they can find a nursing position anywhere, because there is a nursing shortage, but some of them have been there 20 years. They feel ownership of the units."

Tomasa also said that 103 St. Francis nurses did not return to work after the strike was resolved, and that nurses have said a decrease in patient levels during the strike have not been restored.

A representative of the Hawai'i Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996, which also represents St. Francis workers, declined comment.

The Teamsters represented about 700 St. Francis workers two years ago when it renegotiated its last contract with the hospital.

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8065.