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The trend has been slow to hit WesterjnNew York, a factor hospital administratorss attribute to the region’s relative stability. “Th economic impact here in Westernm New York may not be as severse as other places in thecountryg – but we were never at the zenithy like these other locales,” says Timothhy Finan, president and CEO of . The nationa stats come from a new survey bythe (see which reported on severalp areas where members are seeing changes, including staffing cuts, program cuts and more patients coverexd by Medicaid and other public programzs for those in But local hospitals and health systems haven’t escaped the economic climater entirely: in Batavia eliminated three management positions and 27 support stafcf in March, while cut 27 research positions.
Both institutionz cited economic conditions asthe cause. and have warned state funding cuts coulde lead to hundreds ofjob cuts. hospitals are seeing some impact, though not in all areas citee in thenational survey. First-quarter statistics showed the year starteds slowly in comparisonto 2008, with Januarhy off slightly from 2008 figures for ER visits and surgeries. That was followed by a drop in Februar across the board and a rebound in Marcu well abovelast year. Elective surgeries are down somewhat, though the organizationm can only make anecdotal observations asto why, says Dennixs McCarthy, director of marketing.
“Ther thought is that one, people eithere may have lost insurancecoverage or, two, are reluctang to take a medical leave of absence from their jobs to have procedurews done for fear the job will not be there when they get back,” he says. “We do expect that increasecd unemployment will have an impac on the number of people rolling off company insurancew programs and eventually becoming Medicaird insuredor uninsured.
” Finan says he hasn’t seen any significantt changes yet with more peoplse showing up at Olean’s ER uninsured, but he did plan for more bad debt in the 2009 The biggest impact so far at he says, is in the performanc e of its investments and pension funds, as well as access to capita growing tighter. Olean General’s cash he says, remains strong, with the hospital’s operating margin last year the best on record in the past23 “I know there are hospitals in the area that have had some but we haven’t had any at all and we’r e not contemplating any,” Finan says.
The has seen its number s increase, but only slightly, says Evangeline Conley, public affairs The VA is also seeinv people using VA benefits they may have ignoreds before in favor of privateinsurance benefits, she says. “Certainly peopld are looking into their benefit s whenpossibly they’ve lost a job or retired. Life-changinyg events may spark their interest,” she “Prevention is key to keep people well. We want peopled to take advantage of thoseVA benefits.
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