St. John’s Regional Medical Center Interim CEO George Caralis announced Wednesday that approximately 160 positions have been eliminated.

After the press conference, Caralis addressed the future of St. John’s Regional Medical Center’s programs in Neosho.

“We are looking at Neosho as we speak,” Caralis said. “We have three programs in Neosho. We have an urgent care center, which will remain open. We have a primary care practice adjacent to that, and we have a physical therapy site as well. We are looking at both the physical therapy site and the primary care practice to see if we need to make some staffing adjustments there. We are not for sure. Neosho is very important to us.”

Caralis said the decision would be made in the next couple of weeks.

“Where it was possible, we repositioned employees, adjusted schedules, and avoided filling vacant positions in order to limit job loss,” St. John’s officials stated in a press release. “Eliminated positions does not necessarily equate to the number of displaced employees. Affected employees have the option to take other open positions within St. John’s. St. John’s is offering all employees who are not transitioned to other positions severance pay, outplacement services and career guidance.”

Caralis added, “A reduction in force is always difficult… we try to make our reductions as compassionate as we possibly could.”

However, two primary-care clinics in Grove, Okla., and Girard, Kan., will close their doors.

Citing a number of reasons for the downsizing, Caralis did give one important item – the economy.

“The hospital has struggled financially now for three or four years,” said Caralis. “It has struggled significantly. In an effort to offset and handle those financial struggles, we consulted a consulting firm in September to help us analyze exactly where…to make improvements, to strengthen us.”

After a review of the operations, which lasted six to seven weeks, the consulting firm found several ways to improve efficiency. The group’s recommendations led to a reduction in expenses of $30 million.

According to the press release, “The Mission Forward plan calls for a change in focus for St. John’s. This focus will be narrowed to St. John’s core services of cardio, orthopedics, oncology, women’s services and neurosciences. Additionally, the St. John’s mission will serve as the foundation for future actions and decisions.”

Caralis said after fours years of losses, it was time to make changes.

“It is time to right the ship,” he said. “The timing is never right, in terms of the dates and that sort of thing. But in general, it is time for St. John’s to get strong again.”

Continuing, he said, “Every hospital in the country is faced with these issues — faced with more and more uninsured, and more and more people with less than adequate insurance. The state of Missouri has not changed its reimbursement for Medicaid in eight years. Our inflation continues to grow. Our people expect raises. People from whom we buy equipment, and pharmaceuticals keep raising those prices. The inflationary impact on our operations are unending and the reimbursement keeps getting less and less, frankly.”

Another question was posed to Caralis about a rumor that the pediatrics ward would be closed.
“We will always continue to care for pediatrics, whether we have acute inpatient unit is being looked at very graphically,” Caralis said. “Both hospitals (Freeman Health System and St. John’s) have pediatrics, and both average one to two patients a day.”

Caralis said St. John’s will continue to operate.

“We just want to make sure that we are here, and we are in a strong position to be able to meet that demand,” Caralis said. “The demand for our services will not go down, just because of the demographics.”