UT Budget News

This week The University of Toledo Medical Center (UTMC) eliminated approximately 56 FTE positions in the hospital and its outpatient clinics. This is a sad day for those employees.  I’d like to provide a brief explanation as to why this is happening.

First, it is important to note that there has been a purposeful attempt to take money out of this nation’s healthcare system for many years.  Beginning in 1984, Medicare significantly revamped how hospitals were reimbursed with one main goal in mind—reduce payments to hospitals.  That trend continues today.  Most of the rhetoric coming out of Washington, D.C., is how this nation’s healthcare system costs too much money.  The bottom line going forward is that healthcare will see less and less money—both hospitals and physicians.  For many years, hospitals and physicians have had to find ways to be more productive and cost-effective to make ends meet.  As a result, healthcare has seen a shifting of care over time to more cost-effective settings; from inpatient to outpatient, from outpatient to home health, from home health to the workplace, etc.

Add to this persistent long-term trend of cost-cutting a national and regional economic recession over the past year that has resulted in high levels of unemployment.  Hospitals and physicians are now seeing more and more uninsured patients and fewer and fewer commercially insured patients.  Furthermore, Medicare and Medicaid patients are moving to managed care plans that pay hospitals less for services.  Hospitals across the country and in this region are laying off large numbers of employees and cutting low-margin services to keep their economic models viable and sustainable.  The healthcare market continues to be a dynamic and fast-changing industry.  Those organizations that adapt to the speed of change remain viable and thrive.  Those who are slow to change usually fold, or they merge with another organization that is quicker and more nimble.

At UTMC, we have seen a steadily increasing number of uninsured patients, and like most hospitals, UTMC is adapting its healthcare delivery and economic models to adjust to these new demands.  The good news is that UTMC has great physicians and nurses who have been innovating daily for many years—always finding ways to do more with less—always finding ways to deliver university-quality healthcare with increasing levels of cost-effectiveness.

My heart goes out to those employees to whom we must say goodbye.  They deserve our thanks and our best wishes.  Similarly, the employees who remain deserve our thanks and support.  Once again, we will find ways to do more with less.  We will combine professional experience with new technologies and paradigms to deliver university-quality care while simultaneously teaching the physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers of tomorrow.  I am honored to be a member of this team.

Scott Scarborough