St. Ray’s
Stonewalls On Layoffs

After a day of dodging questions about widely rumored layoffs, the Hospital of St. Raphael Friday afternoon officially acknowledged that some people may lose their jobs — but further fed rumors by not disclosing any hard information.

Officials won’t say how many people will be or have been laid off, or in what departments.

They did say they’ve instituted a hiring freeze and are looking at ​“cost-cutting measures” to ​“reposition expenses.”

The hospital has experienced crushing debt the past few years because of low government reimbursements for its large Medicaid caseload. It is now in the process of being taken over by Yale-New Haven Hospital. (Read about that here and here.)

St. Raphael’s first wouldn’t acknowledge over the past day even that it was laying off people. Instead, St. Raphael’s CEO Chris O’Connor sent a hospital-wide memo to employees dispelling rampant rumors of ​“mass layoffs.”

He sent that memo after the Independent inquired Thursday about large-scale layoffs allegedly being readied at the hospital.

Hours later the press office released this statement:

“There has not been an organization-wide reduction of staff at Saint Raphael’s, nor is one planned. Like some other Connecticut hospitals, our volume has been lower than usual for this time of year. As a result, we are closely looking at all expenses — both non-salary and salary — across the organization. This means continuing to adjust staffing in some areas on a case-by-case basis. As we do this, patient care and satisfaction remain our top priority at Saint Raphael’s.”

The rumors persisted Friday morning, with workers hearing word of 200 job losses in departments throughout the hospital. The press office was again asked if indeed layoffs had occurred or would occur, and if so how many and in what departments.

“Will there be some layoffs as a part of cost cutting? Yes,” said Geralyn Johnson-Reis, the hospital’s interim director of public relations. ​“Will there be a massive layoff like a Black Friday? No.”

Spokeswoman Liese Klein added that ​“there have been little reductions here and there from the staff.” She said the organization employs about 4,000 people; she said she would get back with specifics.

Then she released this formal response, without answering the question:

“As we previously stated, there are no mass layoffs pending at Saint Raphael’s. The hospital has, however, instituted a hiring freeze and is looking at various cost-cutting measures to deal with a lower-than-projected patient census and the reality of having 70 percent of our patients covered by government payers that do not cover the cost of that care. These issues are being experienced by hospitals across both the state and the nation. Any cost-cutting measures, whether it is delaying a non-essential purchase, negotiating better supply contracts or reevaluating positions, will be made based on the lower census and will not impact patient care. These decisions are being made based on Saint Raphael’s current status as an independent healthcare provider and our need to run a viable organization and not on any pending affiliations.”

She was asked again about the layoffs: How many people are losing jobs, and where.

“We won’t be commenting further due to personnel considerations,” she replied.

Here’s how CEO O’Connor laid out the situation in his hospital-wide memo:

“This week the volume was on the rise, with a peak of just under 400 patients on Wednesday morning. While this increase is certainly welcome, the month of February will go into the books as one of our slowest February. The overall volume declines are creating pressure on Saint Raphael’s to reposition our expenses, however, the rumors regarding mass layoffs are not accurate.”