|
RCBJ-Audible (Listen For Free)
 |
Hospital Community Reeling From Terminations; Dr. Mary Leahy Set To Retire Early 2025
By Tina Traster
Nearly two dozen employees in long-time managerial and administrative positions have been terminated from Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, according to several sources who spoke off the record. Some said the hospital community is reeling from the unexpected firings that began taking place on Nov. 5.
In addition, Dr. Mary Leahy, head of Bon Secours Charity Health System, is retiring early next year.
Westchester Medical Center Health Network, a nine-hospital system headquartered in Valhalla, N.Y. that includes “Good Sam,” put out an announcement last week saying it is laying off about 130 employees primarily in corporate and administrative roles. People familiar with the layoffs say roughly 30 are at the three hospitals that make up the Bon Secours Charity Health System: Good Samaritan, St. Anthony’s Community Hospital in Warwick, and Bon Secours in Port Jervis. Though most said the majority of the 30 layoffs were from Good Samaritan.
Fired employees were abruptly informed last Tuesday without warning and asked to pack up and leave immediately. (Each employee was called into HR to discuss terms.)
WMCHealth Network said in a statement, “We are implementing changes to our regional operating model, which include the creation of new full-time leadership positions to oversee operations at each individual hospital across our network. After serving as President and CEO of the Bon Secours Charity Health System (BSCHS) since 2015, Mary P. Leahy, MD, MHA, has announced her retirement, effective early next year.”
“This is a shock to the community,” said a source who asked to remain anonymous. “These are people who’ve put in 10, 15, 25 years. These are people who have relationships with the community. This is devastating.”
Sources also said, “There was no notice. These people were told to pack up and go. I’m concerned this will leave the hospital without leadership.”
Sources say no doctors or union workers were fired.
“In order to create a more efficient operating structure, WMCHealth Network is realigning its operations by centralizing services to better leverage the strengths of our entire Network and ensure the long-term health of our hospitals,” the health system said in a statement. “As part of this realignment, we have made the difficult decision to consolidate and, therefore, reduce a number of administrative and corporate service roles across the system.”
“The layoffs, which equate to less than 1% of the health system’s workforce, are management-level positions across all hospital locations, according to WMCHealth. No patient-facing roles were affected.”
Moody’s Investors Service recently downgraded the ratings of Westchester County Health Care Corp. and Charity Health System to “B1” from “Ba1.”
According to Moody’s, the downgrade reflects a material decline in liquidity to a “very weak level concurrent with growing near-term demands on cash, increasingly high reliance on short-term bank lines, and higher-than-expected cashflow losses.”
Inside sources say managers and directors in marketing and IT were among those who were let go, as was the Regional Director of Philanthropy and her assistant. At least one source said, “Why cut off the fundraising arm?” Good Samaritan’s charitable foundation distributed more than $3 million last year.
Sources say Irene Tsetsekos, the senior leader of the WMCHealth Network’s Foundations team in Westchester, will oversee Good Samaritan’s fundraising functions, but WMCHealth did not confirm this.
The Charitable Foundation board at Good Samaritan was not given any advance warnings about the firings.
“If they consolidate the foundation board, what does that mean for us,” one board member mused. “The ‘mothership’ has a foundation.”
Worried community members say the large swath of terminated employees will leave a hole in the hospital’s “institutional knowledge,” and a dent in its morale.
Leahy, a longtime Rockland County resident, is by many accounts cherished in the community. She is a board-certified internist, who in 2012 became senior vice president of physician operations for Bon Secours Medical Group—comprised of more than 60 practitioners at the time and more than 120 today. In that role, she collaborated with senior executives and physician leaders. In 2013, Leahy was named CEO of Bon Secours Charity Health System, with responsibility for setting the system’s strategic vision and providing leadership for system-wide operations and performance for three acute care hospitals; the Bon Secours Medical Group; a regional home health care agency; two long-term care facilities; an assisted living facility; and an adult home.
And in 2014, she played a key role in facilitating the joint venture between Bon Secours Health System and Westchester Medical Center (WMC), which became effective in May, 2015. The acquisition allowed Bon Secours Charity Health System to expand advanced clinical services to people living and working in Rockland and Orange counties. In 2015, she was instrumental in securing a $24.5 million grant from the State of New York’s Capital Restructuring Financing Program to transform the health of the Port Jervis community with an extensive Medical Village project.
Change is afoot systemwide.
After nearly 20 years as president/CEO of Westchester Medical Center and the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMC Health), Michael Israel will retire at the end of 2025. The board has launched a nationwide search for his replacement.
Israel and his team steered a financial turnaround for Westchester Medical Center. The network includes nine hospitals and nearly 1,800 inpatient beds across eight counties. With $3 billion in annual revenue, the network has a total economic community impact of $896 million.
However, the job cutting appears to be, in part, a response to a recently prepared audit by Huron Consulting Group, indicating the health system needs belt-tightening.
“All hospitals are losing money,” said an anonymous source with ties to Good Samaritan. “They’re not able to pay the bills. That’s the reason why they are cleaning house.”
