Allergan Blames Health Reforms in Laying Off 56 : Employment: Irvine Maker of eye- and skin-care products says its profits are hurt by cuts in Medicare reimbursement for lenses it makes.

Allergan Inc., a maker of eye- and skin-care products, said Monday that proposed health-care reform and cuts in Medicare reimbursement for artificial lenses have forced the company to eliminate 56 jobs.

Allergan spokesman Jeffrey B. D’Eliscu said the staff cuts were effective immediately, but he did not know how many of the positions being eliminated were currently vacant.

“What we have to do is adapt to the changing health-care environment,”D’Eliscu said, adding that the company remains one of Orange County’s leading employers, providing some 4,900 jobs around the world and 1,600 in the county.

He said “a few” of the 56 positions eliminated were in the company’s Waco, Tex., and Puerto Rico facilities, with workers being relocated back to Southern California. D’Eliscu said those whose jobs were cut would have an opportunity to bid for other vacant positions that were not eliminated.

Most of the jobs lost were in the company’s Irvine-based surgical business, which is responsible for the manufacture of so-called intraocular lens.

Allergan officials had predicted staff reductions in July, when the Senate passed President Clinton’s budget, which included a 25% cut in Medicare reimbursements of intraocular lenses, which are used in cataract surgery to restore vision.

Allergan, with 1992 revenue of $897 million, is the largest supplier of implantable intraocular lenses in the United States, selling more than $100 million worth each year. With the lower reimbursement, the company estimated that it would lose some $25 million a year.

David Anast, publisher of the Costa Mesa-based Biomedical Market Newsletter, which tracks the medical industry in Southern California, said that the announcement came as no surprise to others in the industry.

He predicted that Administration concerns about holding down Medicare costs will eventually spread to other medical device manufacturers, forcing layoffs at other Orange County companies.

“Unfortunately, we will see this pattern accelerate and broaden,” Anast said. “It is inevitable.”

Anast also said that Allergan has suffered far less than its competitors, such as Staar Surgical Inc. in Pasadena, which has laid off dozens of workers in the last year. But, he said, it appeared that there would be no immediate need for further cuts by Allergan.

Allergan officials are concerned that proposed caps on health-care prices would harm the company and are preparing for the worst by eliminating positions, D’Eliscu said.

“We have to control costs since the health-care reform proposal recently outlined is creating a cost-containment environment for this industry,” he said.

Allergan’s announcement, coming late in the day, had no immediate effect on its stock price, which closed on the New York Stock Exchange at $21.875 a share, unchanged for the day.