California Hospital Lays Off 50 as Its Patient Load Shrinks

Faced with fewer patients seeking treatment or hospitalization, officials at California Hospital Medical Center issued layoff notices Friday to 50 employees, including six nursing supervisors.

Rick Norling, president of the 326-bed Los Angeles facility, said most of the pink slips were sent to members of the hospital’s clerical, maintenance, housekeeping and management staffs. The hospital at 1414 Hope St. downtown has 1,150 employees.

No nurses directly involved in patient care were laid off, he said.

Numerous hospitals in Southern California and the United States have adopted similar cost-cutting measures because tighter government requirements over the Medi-Cal and Medicaid programs have reduced the number of hospital patients and shortened hospital stays.

Since 70% of California Hospital’s patients use Medi-Cal or Medicare insurance to pay their bills, patient occupancy at the hospital has dropped from a daily average of 220 patients to 200 in recent months, Norling said.

In another economy move last January the hospital closed its trauma center. The facility operates on an estimated annual budget of $56 million and the basic average cost for a semiprivate room there is $260 a day, officials said.

The hospital’s personnel office is trying to help find other employment for the laid-off workers, Norling said.