Another Hospital is Axing Jobs Because of Obamacare — Or is It?

The following headline caught my eye the other day: “A Dozen Hospitals Are Laying Off Staff and Blaming Obamacare; Don’t Believe Them.”
Don’t believe them? That seems like strong language, especially since the majority of hospitals announcing layoffs have attributed the staffing changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — to some degree. Reduced reimbursement and fewer patient admissions are two commonly cited reasons, both undeniably tied to the reform law.  
But some recent reports have suggested this doesn’t come down to us believing hospitals — it may be the media that’s oversimplifying the issue and wrongly linking layoffs to the PPACA.  
Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare recently announced layoffs affecting about 100 employees, effective Nov. 15. A news report covering the announcement included quotes from an anonymous and disgruntled employee who wrote WSBTV, saying Emory partly attributed the cuts to the healthcare reform law. “The saddest part,” the employee wrote, “is when during the announcement we were told our job loss is due to the new affordable healthcare plan.”
Shortly after this news broke, a reporter for national publication The Atlantic dug a little deeper, finding the real reason for Emory’s layoffs was more complex than the WSBTV report led readers to believe.
It essentially came down to Emory closing a neuropsychiatry unit and consolidating two psychiatry units. In fact, Emory’s chief nursing officer told The Atlantic the layoffs have nothing to do with the healthcare reform law.
Cleveland Clinic made national waves lately after it announced plans to trim $300 million from its budget, which could result in an unspecified number of layoffs if departments can’t make the targeted cuts through attrition and non-staff cuts. The system’s administrative departments are cutting 6 percent of their budgets while clinical departments are trimming 4 percent. Original reporting on the matter from Cleveland’s Plain Dealer contained no mention of the healthcare reform law, Obamacare or PPACA.
But here are a couple of other headlines with the news:• Fox News: Cleveland Clinic, Praised By Obama, Cutting Jobs Due to ObamaCare• Huffington Post: ‘World-Renowned’ Cleveland Clinic Announces Job Cuts Because Of Obamacare

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Molly Gamble

Fox’s coverage of Cleveland Clinic’s budget cuts (see the headline above) made its way to at least one lawmaker. Misinformation is never a good thing, especially when the government is nearing a shutdown.

Media Matters for America said U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) went on a Fox News program Sept. 24 and said, “The Cleveland Clinic announced this week they are laying off many employees. They’re cutting $300 million of expenses because of the implementation — because of the healthcare law.”

A Cleveland Clinic spokesperson told The Atlantic she was surprised by the extent to which the PPACA was mentioned in news reports about the system’s announcement. “We’ve been working on reducing costs for years,” she said. “This is not doomsday for the Clinic. We’re still growing — we’re still hiring.”

My thanks to The Atlantic and other media outlets that are exercising caution when reporting on hospital layoffs and job cuts. It will be interesting to see how scrutiny over headlines and reporting continues to play out, and it makes me wonder how many hospital layoffs have been erroneously covered up until this point.

In March, I cited an analysis from MedeAnalytics that found the top reason hospitals cited for layoffs was reduced Medicare reimbursement, almost always with reference to the PPACA. I’m sure that analysis is accurate, but I indeed hope it was the hospitals making that claim, and not overeager reporters.

This is one more reason hospitals should always issue an official memo or press release when announcing job cuts. Set the facts straight. Own the message. Don’t let letters from anonymous employees or faulty headlines take over the real story for why your health system is laying off employees.

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