Northridge Hospital Staff Being Cut at Roscoe Site

NORTHRIDGE —  Seeking to slash overhead after suffering a sharp loss last year, Northridge Hospital Medical Center on Wednesday said it will cut the staff by about 8%--the equivalent of about 100 full-time jobs--at its Roscoe Boulevard facility.

The hospital said the staff reduction, mostly in administration and other areas not related directly to patient care, began Monday. The cuts include full-time, part-time and casual positions.

Northridge Hospital operates two campuses. The larger one, on Roscoe Boulevard near Reseda Boulevard in Northridge, has 433 licensed beds and a staff of 1,265 full-time or full-time equivalent positions. The other facility, a 211-bed hospital at Sherman Way and Van Nuys Boulevard in Van Nuys, is not affected by the staff cuts, said spokesman Barry Ginsbarg.

In a statement, Northridge Hospital President Roger Seaver said the Roscoe facility “posted a major loss in 1998, with additional, though reduced, losses anticipated in 1999 as well.”

According to financial reports at the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, the Roscoe campus had an operating loss of $14.7 million in 1998 on net revenue of $152.5 million.

The Van Nuys campus has a “lower cost structure,” Ginsbarg said. It broke even in 1998 on an operating basis, according to state records.

The hospital said the Roscoe campus’ losses stemmed in part from reduced reimbursements from Medicare and managed care plans, a decline in use of its services and “market demands for lower-cost health care.” It said the layoffs affect areas such as administration, finance, human resources services, admitting, industrial rehabilitation, social services, laboratory and “support positions in several other departments.”

Northridge Hospital became part of Catholic Healthcare West, the largest not-for-profit hospital system in California, last December when CHW took over the UniHealth hospital system, of which the two Northridge campuses are a part.