County Hospital to Lay Off 25 Employees : Health care: Nearly all affected are middle managers. No doctors or nurses are included. Officials say there were no other options and that the staff cuts will allow the facility to break even.

Ventura County health care officials will lay off about two dozen employees today at the county hospital to balance this year’s budget and gear up for more funding cuts next year.

County Health Care Agency Director Phillipp Wessels said Monday that the Ventura County Medical Center must slice spending by at least $1 million from its $80-million budget or face a deficit at the end of this fiscal year.

The layoffs, he said, will also help the hospital offset an anticipated $600,000 reduction in county support next year.

“If we didn’t do this, the hospital would be operating at a loss,” Wessels said. “We had to make these reductions to break even. There are no other options.”

Twenty-five people--nearly all middle managers--have been told that their jobs are being eliminated, Wessels said. The target positions include administrative officers, records managers, radiology supervisors, engineers and clerical workers.

No nurses or doctors are included in the layoffs, hospital Administrator Pierre Durand said. He said officials wanted to make cuts that would have the least impact on patient care.

“There is no reduction in service,” Durand said. “But it makes us very, very lean.”

This is the second consecutive year the county hospital in Ventura has been forced to reduce staffing--cuts brought on by decreases in government funding and increases in patients who cannot pay their bills.

Last June, the hospital eliminated 23 jobs, again targeting managers and supervisors. And more cuts in the hospital’s 1,100-member work force are anticipated next year.

“This is just a prelude of things to come,” Supervisor Maria VanderKolk said. “These are very difficult times.”

Recently, the county’s auditor-controller warned the supervisors that they could be forced to lay off up to 400 employees to balance the budget next year.

“All our managers are having to look at reorganizing and streamlining,” Supervisor Maggie Kildee said. “In some cases they are finding ways to become more efficient. But there is nothing good to say about laying off people. It is only going to become more difficult.”

Because of the recession, the hospital has been struggling to operate with less public funding at a time when more patients are without health insurance, Wessels said.

“Health care revenues are shrinking,” Wessels said. “Insurance companies as well as government programs have capped the amount they will pay. And, as a function of the economy, more people are uninsured or underinsured.”

And Ventura County medical officials are not alone.

Facing a $4.3-million budget shortfall, officials at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard announced this month that they plan to cut 24 management and support jobs and hold off on raises. Last year, a $5-million budget shortfall led to 33 layoffs at the hospital.

“All of the other hospitals are going through this,” Durand said. “I think it’s a sign of the times. Hospitals and medical systems are being forced to review staffing levels and the way they provide care.”