Hospital Lays Off 47 Employees

The Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center has laid off 47 employees, including six nurses, because of continued revenue losses, hospital officials said Thursday.

The cuts at the Antelope Valley’s largest hospital are part of its efforts to adjust to the growing trend toward outpatient health care, said Bev Greer, vice president of business management.

“Outpatient care reduces costs dramatically,” Greer said. “But it also reduces our revenues.”

Outpatient care cases have increased by about 10% every year at the hospital, which has more than 1,300 employees, Greer said.

Executives say the layoffs, which were announced Wednesday morning, were kept to a minimum, and the remaining employees did not receive pay cuts. Greer said the layoffs will save the hospital about $2 million this year, helping it to break even.

In April the hospital lost $1.2 million in revenues, and an additional half-million in May, Greer said.

But the layoffs were opposed by one member of Antelope Valley’s board of directors who was also upset that the board was not consulted.

Board member Steve Fox would have preferred that all hospital employees take a small pay cut, he said, rather than laying off 47 workers.