NIHD faces additional reductions, cites more changes to come
Northern Inyo Healthcare District regrettably eliminated an additional six positions this week as part of its ongoing efforts to right size the 77-year-old healthcare organization. These reductions include both union and non-unionized jobs concentrated within administration and support roles.
According to Stephen DelRossi, NIHD’s Chief Financial Officer and interim Chief Executive Officer, these reductions follow careful consideration and are driven by a commitment to sustainable patient care for the Northern Inyo communities. “These decisions are not made lightly but are unfortunately necessary for our future,” DelRossi says.
NIHD executives and team continue to monitor all service lines for improvements to the District’s financial situation. Specifically, the work is concentrated around service line growth to make each line no less than net neutral.
“Our commitment to the community is to provide services efficiently and sustainably,” DelRossi
says. “Unfortunately, not all service lines are viable as they lose money and do not provide basic
services, often seen as elective procedures. We aim to provide the best care to the largest base in
the most effective model.”
DelRossi acknowledges that the term right-sizing can seem grating. Still, he insists it is the best
way to describe the resource reallocation underway at NIHD for the past 10 months.
“Resource allocation is most important when any business is facing financial challenges,” DelRossi says. “For us, it means putting the right people in the right place in a timely manner to handle patient care. Sometimes, we see a need for an increase in personnel, a decrease, or a change in scheduling, and sometimes there are no changes. Everything is truly on a case-by-case basis at this point.”
DelRossi says the changes made in fiscal year 2022-23 decreased NIHD’s projected loss in
financial position from more than $24 million to approximately $15 million. While NIHD still had a loss, DelRossi says the District made significant improvements.
The interim CEO says NIHD is budgeted to have a negative change in financial position of $15.9
million in the coming fiscal year but notes staff have identified approximately $8.4 million in
adjustments. “While this is still a loss, we are confident that over the coming year, we will be able to make more adjustments as we work to recover the District,” he says.
Times remain tough for healthcare organizations across the nation. Challenged by inflation, rising supply costs, and predicted physician and nursing shortages, healthcare continues to toil under low Medicare, Medicaid, and Medi-Cal reimbursement rates. While some reimbursement relief exists on the 2025 horizon, most organizations also struggle to recover pre-pandemic patient volumes. For NIHD, unearthed past financial issues have also contributed to the tenuous situation.
“There is no question every healthcare organization must continue to look at how it meets the
needs of its communities and its patients, and then make necessary adjustments,” DelRossi says.
“We feel with the support of our community, our patients, and our team, and with a focus on
long-term sustainability, NIHD can recover. It will take time and patience and all of us working
together for a positive outcome.”
Discover more from Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News - The Community's News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
“…inflation, rising supply costs, and predicted physician and nursing shortages, healthcare continues to toil under low Medicare, Medicaid, and Medi-Cal reimbursement rates”
$76 billion has been sent to Ukraine with Joe seeking another $24 billion, according to a Sept. 7th USA article.
Like it or not, we voted for this.
It’s the result of voting with your feelings and emotions and not your head.
When are we going to learn?
Tinner
Or we could’ve voted trump in for another term,put up with 4 more years of lies, drama,and watched more big tax cuts for the billionaires,big oil companies and the rich and famous,and watch him step all over the environment, Wildlife and Endangered Species Acts and wanting to plow through Native American lands and burial sites along the way with doing that …
Simple solution to your issues with President Biden…
Find someone to run against him that has a brain, someone that’s not a habitual liar and grifter, isn’t facing 91 Federal indictments, and wouldn’t treat his presidency,if he somehow was elected again as a 4-year “revenge tour” against anyone and everyone that didn’t kiss his rear-end from 2016-2024…
And by the looks and sounds of things with that first republican debate earlier this month ,minus trump,I highly doubt anyone of them will fit that bill to beat Biden,even if the unelectable trump somehow wasn’t seen as the “overwhelming front-runner and republican party leader” to challenge..
This isn’t the result of something that’s happened in the last few years – it been in the works since before Trump was in office.
A frustration I have with tribal politics is the general civic ignorance of how long it takes for anything to get done or to see the effects of policy.
NIHD is shrinking because it cannot seem to get much right, starting with the language. “Right sizing” could refer to firing people or hiring more people as the case may be. The term is inarticulate verbal gauze. Likewise “negative change in financial position ” (means “losing money”) and “sustainable patient care” (means they can’t sustain what they’ve got). It’s difficult to think well when you are incapable of articulating your thoughts using correct language. Based on this article, it appears that NIHD is toast because its management, to use a phrase they’ll appreciate, hasn’t sufficiently touched base with identifying metrical conceptualization of its blue sky thinking.
Please. I think everyone can understand the language used. We don’t need your definitions. The language was actually just fine. We are not imbeciles, and don’t need your interpretations.
How about reducing to Chief of HR to HR Director