Bergen Regional Med Center cutting up to 50 jobs

Bergen Regional Medical Center said Tuesday that it will eliminate "less than 50 positions" as a result of federal and state reimbursement reductions for charity care and a prohibition against entering into contracts with managed health care providers.

Donnalee Corrieri, a spokeswoman for the Bergen Regional LP, a division of Solomon health management of Colorado, said in a statement that "no direct patient hospital services have been eliminated," but she declined to provide a specific number of positions or comment on what types of jobs would be cut at the Paramus hospital.

Corrieri placed partial blame for the layoffs with the hospital's title-holder, the Bergen County Improvement Authority, for not allowing it to "enter into managed-care contracts, adding more financial challenges to an already difficult reimbursement environment."

Keith Furlong, the spokesman for the improvement authority, said in a press release that Philip Wilson, the authority's new chairman, did not learn of the layoff plan until Tuesday morning.

Furlong said the hospital's management had also submitted its budget Tuesday morning — "after repeated requests" — and that the budget showed that the company continues to make a profit.

Without having managed-care contracts with private health insurance providers, hospitals typically have a more difficult time attracting patients who are privately insured, and thus tend to serve a larger proportion of less-affluent patients who are publicly insured through Medicaid and Medicare.

"Bergen Regional Medical Center, being a safety net hospital and one of the largest providers of charity care in the state, has provided medical and mental health care services to an increased number of patients without insurance while experiencing significant, multimillion-dollar reductions in reimbursements for treatment of indigent and uninsured patients," Corrieri said in the press release.

Furlong said the BCIA "cannot arbitrarily create another full-service, managed-care hospital without careful thought and review."

"Managed care is one of many topics we have tried to settle with BRMC," Furlong said in his press release.

"However, given the mission of the hospital is to be a safety net, opening up another full-service hospital in the area may jeopardize the care received by those who need it the most and can't afford to go to [Hackensack University Medical Center], Englewood [Hospital and Medical Center] or other area hospitals."

Furlong urged the company to open its books to the public and to use some of its profits to avert the layoffs.

A spokeswoman for the Health Professional and Allied Employees union said the layoffs represent about $8 million in cuts.

Jeanne Otersen, the statewide policy director for the union, noted that while Bergen Regional is privately managed, it is still publicly owned, and that the hospital should be more forthcoming with details.

"What is the impact on patients?" she said. "Are these management positions? Are these patient-care positions? Are these housekeeping positions? The lack of information is as disturbing as these cuts."