(Cleveland) - Cleveland-based University Hospitals is temporarily reducing hours and pay for health care employees who are not directly involved in COVID-19 patient care.
UH says the cuts are being made because of how the hospital system has been impacted by the high costs associated with prepareedness for a surge in coronavirus patients, along with a sharp decline in revenues from the suspension of non-essential surgeries and procedures.
For an initial period of 10 weeks UH will reduce hours and pay by 20 percent for about 4,100 caregivers not directly involved in patient care. Executives, directors, nonclinical managers, department chairs and division chiefs will have their pay reduced while continuing to work their regular schedules.
In addition, UH will temporarily close its free-standing emergency departments in Avon, Amherst, Broadview Heights, Kent, and Twinsburg, effective Sunday morning. UH urgent care facilities will remain open in Broadview Heights, Kent, and Twinsburg, and urgent cares will be opened in Avon and Amherst.
Emergency departments at UH hospitals are not affected.
UH says a sharp decline in the number of patients visiting emergency departments was an unforeseen consequence of the pandemic. Patient volumes are down 50 percent at UH hospital-based ERs, and 70 percent at freestanding locations. Patients are seeking care in other ways, including phone and online.
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