Women & Infants, Other Care New England Hospitals Shed Staff

EAST GREENWICH, RI — In a press release that avoids the word "layoff," Care New England said Wednesday it is addressing "ongoing financial challenges" and has "restructured" staff, primarily at Women & Infants. Care New England operates Kent Hospital in Warwick; Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island in Providence; the VNA of Care New England, based in Warwick; Butler Hospital in Providence; The Providence Center in several Rhode Island locations; and Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket.

The board of directors said last week it plans to sell Memorial to Prime Healthcare Foundation and is negotiating a deal with Partners in Boston so the other hospitals become part of Partners Health Care. However, Care New England is saying the layoffs are not connected to the hospital deals.

"It is important to note that these actions are not related to recent partnership announcements; these decisions are the result of an ongoing and exhaustive review of our operations," said Jim Beardsworth, system director of communications. Beardsworth said Care New England has been taking steps to "right" its financial ship, and these layoffs are not the result of any negotiation with Partners.

Patch contacted Care New England for specifics about the layoffs. The press release today said only "a wide array of staff across the system, including clinical and non-clinical, union and non-union employees" were impacted. Beardsworth said he will not provide numbers and will not indicate whether a lot of people or a few were affected.

"I will not be providing any additional context," he said. He also could not say if more layoffs might be coming.

"The vast majority of the FTE (full-time equivalent) reductions took place at Women & Infants Hospital; however, there was some impact at Kent and Butler hospitals, as well as the VNA of Care New England," the statement said.

The company blamed the state Office of Health Insurance Commissioner for imposing too stringent caps on its reimbursement rates.

“Today’s announcement marks a difficult yet necessary step in what has been a challenging period for CNE,” Beardsworth. “We continue to make significant progress in our efforts to right our ship but that comes with careful and painful decisions affecting dedicated and hard-working people. CNE management has determined that reducing the workforce is a fundamental necessity given our current environment and unwavering delivery of our mission to our patients through our valued and highly regarded hospitals, services and community-based programs.”

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