Work force cut at Portneuf Medical Center 

Suffering from flat admissions growth, rising costs and growing numbers of uninsured and underinsured patients, Pocatello-based Portneuf Medical Center announced Sept. 9 it is cutting 40 full-time positions from its 1,279 employee work force.

The reduction amounts to about 3 percent of the hospital’s total employee population and is effective immediately, PMC spokesman Brad Huerta said. He added the job cuts won’t affect direct patient care.

“We took great pains to not lay off anyone that was a bed-side care provider for our patients. These are all positions from overhead departments that were either redundant or needed to be scaled back,” he said. “Anything and everything from administration down.” 

Among those whose positions eliminated were the hospital’s chief operating officer and its chief medical officer.

“They were key members of our staff… (but) a small hospital like our self, you typically would not see a chief operating officer, you typically wouldn’t have a chief medical officer. We were staffed at a model you might see at, for instance, Saint Alphonsus rather than a hospital in eastern Idaho,” he said. “That wasn’t appropriate given our size.”

Huerta said employees were given advance notice and will receive severance packages, counseling and outplacement services. PMC CEO Norman Stephens stated affected workers will be eligible for rehiring when things turn around.

“This is a painful decision and we all feel a sense of loss,” he stated in a news release. “We deeply regret the impact of this action on the affected employees and their families.”

PMC Joint Venture Board Chairman Mark Buckalew stated the construction of PMC’s new $150 million hospital is progressing as planned despite down economic times.

“The magnitude of the economic downturn has been unprecedented in my lifetime,” he stated in the release. “As good stewards of the community’s resources, we must make decisions that ensure the viability of PMC for years to come even though they can be heart wrenching.”

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