Hospitals nationwide are struggling with rising expenses
Memorial Health’s recently
announced decision to lay off several hundred employees appears to be related
to economic stresses that the COVID-19 pandemic made worse. The
five-hospital health system, with 500-bed Springfield Memorial Hospital as its flagship,
is reducing its workforce because of “national trends, such as the rising cost
of supplies and equipment, high cost of labor and shifting trends in payer
reimbursements,” Memorial Health President and Chief Executive Officer Ed
Curtis said in an Aug. 8 statement…