Hawai'i Medical Center said it will lay off 89 employees in its business and information management departments in June and outsource the positions to a Tennessee-based firm in an effort to cut costs and stem financial losses.

The employees are in HMC's business office, call center, health information management and admissions departments. The workers were given a 60-day termination notice yesterday.

Sixty-one workers are members of the Teamsters and Laborers unions, while 28 are non-bargaining employees, said Salim Hasham, HMC director of implementation.

HMC, which operates the former St. Francis Medical Center hospitals in Liliha and 'Ewa Beach, runs the state's only for-profit medical centers.

HMC said it has reached an agreement with Perot Systems of Nashville, Tenn., to take over the functions of the laid-off workers effective late June.

Hasham said the change should result in significant cost savings for HMC, although he would not provide an estimate.

"Being a private institution, it's difficult for us to disclose that," he said. "The thing that we can disclose is that it will have a very significant, positive impact in terms of the way we do business and in the kinds of new revenues that we will generate."

Hasham said hiring an outside firm to do HMC's administrative work will allow the hospitals to "focus on what we do really well, which is acute medical care."

The layoffs do not include any medical staff.

HMC has asked Perot to consider rehiring as many of the 89 employees as possible. But Hasham said the ultimate decision will be up to Perot.

HMC has been mired in losses since it bought the two financially strapped hospitals in January 2007 from St. Francis Health Care Systems.

HMC this year asked the Legislature for a tax break on an estimated $6 million a year it owes in general excise tax payments, but that effort died this session.

Hasham said the decision to outsource the work and lay off employees was difficult, but said it had to be done because of the mounting financial pressure on HMC.

"The important thing is the value added is significant and that's really the impetus behind going this route," Hasham said.