Job Cuts At Riverside

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Hampton Roads latest job cuts are coming from a surprising source.  Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News just eliminated 23 jobs.

Senior Vice President Patrick Parcells, MD. says Riverside is being forced to restructure and change.

"There's clearly a change in the delivery of health care in that for many years it was hospital-centric, whereas now it's changing, in that clearly patients are taken care of outside of hospitals a lot.," said Parcells.

Parcells added many patients go to outpatient surgery centers or have procedures done in their doctors office.   He says surgeries are down about 100 a month at Riverside, compared to last year.

Several of the 23 jobs cut were in the operating room, including nurses and physicians assistants.

Parcells says it is something the hospital 'had to do' and may have to do again.

"We're looking at every unit we need to look at to see if we're going to need to restructure in other areas as well," said Parcells.

That will depend in large part on the economy.   Parcells says many patients are putting off elective surgeries and often those with insurance are finding it hard to make co-payments.

On the other hand, Riverside can't find enough nurses and staff to work with the elderly.   Business is also booming at day care centers for seniors.  

Parcells says those whose jobs were cut will be offered retraining if they want it.

When asked about patient care he answered, "'will this impact our ability to provide care?' and the answer is absolutely not because, again, we restructured, we reorganized.  The care will be delivered just as well as before hopefully more efficiently and better."