The Greenwood Leflore Hospital in Greenwood laid off 50 employees the last week of July, which followed a similar layoff in February of 53 full and part-time employees.

In a prepared statement from the hospital administration, it says the hospital, in recent months, has lost key medical specialists and seen others scale back their medical practices due to the difficulty many physicians are facing in finding affordable malpractice coverage.

Due to the scale back, the hospital has seen a decline in its patient volume thus necessitating the layoffs, continued the statement. The hospital didn’t identify in what areas the layoffs affected staffing or services.

“Reducing jobs at the hospital is one of the most difficult decisions management can make,” read the statement. “The short and long-term future of the hospital to provide quality care to the patients entrusted to our care by our medical staff must be our primary concern.

“Our difficult decisions are intended to strengthen the hospital to plan for a dynamic future. It is unfortunate these steps have to be taken in response to actions beyond our control,” concluded the prepared statement.

Jerry Adams, executive director of the Greenwood Leflore Hospital, has been on the job for just a few weeks and is “in the process of assessing the situation at the hospital. I can’t answer the question right now as to what we’re going to do about the problems at the hospital.
“I’m having discussions with my staff, board members, employees and others about the situation and what approach we’re going to take to deal with these issues,” says Adams.

“We’re in the planning stages right now. This is an ongoing process. I wouldn’t want to say anything that would shock our employees any more than they’ve already been shocked. I’m just three weeks on the job so I can’t tell you what needs to be done right now,” he says.

Adams, however, has a history of turning around hospitals having difficulties. His most recent position, which he held for 15 years, was as chief executive officer of Sumter Regional Hospital in Americus, Ga.

While at Sumter, Adams is credited with efforts to increase hospital assets by millions of dollars, adding to the hospital’s inventory of property and equipment, renovating buildings, purchasing a nursing home and rehab unit, removing an institutional debt, physician recruitment, developing a cardiac clinic, an oncology clinic, a rural health clinic and a hospice service.

“We’re going to assess these situations and come up with a plan but what that plan will be, I don’t know right now,” said Adams.

While no other Delta hospital has yet to announce layoffs, more could be coming if the economy remains sluggish and more people lose jobs and the subsequent health coverage provided by employers.

Dr. Anita Wacht Batman, a 27-year career veteran with the U.S. Public Health Service, has now retired to her hometown of Greenwood. Since her retirement there, Batman says she’s seen the effects of the malpractice insurance crisis and how it has impacted the hospital and employees.

“There are a lot of people in the community who are poor or part of the working,” she says. “Many of these people have no health insurance or lost it when they were laid off and lost their jobs. This is a group that was crying out for help. They make a living and either they cannot afford health care coverage from what they make or they just go without, and hope they don’t get sick.

“Small businesses are very vulnerable. I spoke to many small businesses that can’t provide health coverage for their employees. These are the people who really need the help but are going without for health care or dental care. That’s the critical need right now,” she says.

Batman says the malpractice insurance crisis also “has a lot to do with the lack of physicians in an area. Something has to be done about it or more hospitals are going to be affected which means more employees could be let go.”

Batman is in the processing of establishing a health clinic called Greenwood Community Health Care, Inc. which would cater specifically to the poor and working poor.

In Greenwood, the closing or relocation of a number of manufacturing plants and other businesses has hurt both the economy as well as the ability of many residents to use health insurance for hospital services and procedures, says Angela Curry, assistant director of economic development for the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation.
“But the malpractice situation in the state has had an impact on physicians and what services they will continue to offer here,” says Curry.

An improved local and national economy could help improve the situation in the Greenwood area that would, in turn, help employ more people, she says. “The hospital is still a major player in our economy and it could just be a short-term situation,” Curry says. DBJ