Although there continues to be plenty of healthcare jobs, some hospitals across country have found it necessary to let go of workers. . Recently the U.S. saw the first overall decline in hospital jobs to be experienced in a long time. Since budgets are tight, doing away with positions is one way to counter act the problems caused by the economic recession. Now one medical system has announced that it will cut doing away with Illinois jobs at its teaching hospitals.
Loyola University Health System announced earlier this week that it will be cutting 443 positions in Maywood Illinois. The reason the Jesuit ran University cited behind doing away with these jobs was the increasing number of patients that are unable to pay their bills.
During a time of economic struggle, rising unemployment causes a ripple effect that hurts even more stable areas of the job market. Just because those who have been laid off by their place of employment now lack health benefits and are unable to pay medical bills, this does not keep these individuals from having issues that must be attended to by doctors. After such medical care is received, the bills of those who lack the funds to pay are left for the hospital to absorb. When the economy is in a good condition, the debts are not usually a problem because the ratio of patients that can pay for themselves is much higher.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times the hospitals unpaid bills increased 28 percent since last year. This translates to $38.4 million. On top of this, the healthcare systems charity care costs rose 30 percent during the first three quarters of this fiscal years, which is $31.3 million.
Loyola will be doing away with a total of 372 full-time jobs. Of these, 69 positions will be cut that are already vacant. Another 71, seven of which are currently open, will be done away with at Loyola University’s Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The newspaper went on to say that 35 of those affected were managers and that another 31 were nurses. Altogether the job cuts represent 8 percent of Loyola University Health System total work force.
Those affected will likely be able to find other jobs in the healthcare industry, even if they have to relocate. This is especially true for the nurses who lost their jobs with Loyola.
Tags: Illinois Jobs