Coronavirus takes financial toll on workers at one Boise-area health system
After COVID-19 struck Idaho with the first coronavirus diagnosis on March 13, emergency room volume at Saint Alphonsus Health System dropped between 30% to 40%.
“People were afraid to come to the emergency room,” St. Als’ CEO Odette Bolano said by phone. “And with that lower volume, the percentage of people being admitted to the hospital because they were so sick significantly increased.”
For four months, Saint Alphonsus, St. Luke’s Health System and West Valley Medical Center in Caldwell have dealt with the roller-coaster of caring for coronavirus patients while enduring revenue losses from reductions in elective procedures and spending increases needed to protect against the virus.
By early April, revenues at Saint Alphonsus had declined 50% to 80% in the hospital’s inpatient and outpatient areas. An undisclosed number of employees were placed on furlough. Hospital executives took pay cuts of 15% to 25%.
St. Als cuts costs, prepares for crisis
As the number of Idaho coronavirus cases flattened following Gov. Brad Little’s stay-home order, Saint Alphonsus saw its treatment volumes by the end of June rise to 85% to 93% of pre-COVID volume. But over the past few weeks, the number of coronavirus cases has begun rising again, and hospital leaders have warned of an approaching crisis in capacity unless the growth is stopped.
Late last week, Saint Alphonsus announced it was taking additional measures to reduce non-labor expenses, extending some staff furloughs and eliminating some positions. The hospital did not say how many people are affected.
“The negative impact to revenue and an overall increase in expenses required to ensure the safety of our colleagues and patients has been significant,” the hospital said in a news release. “Like many health systems nationally, recovery has begun but will take time as we continue to experience waves of the pandemic over the next 12 to 18 months.”
Saint Alphonsus has 200 staff members who are part of an incident command center that meets three days a week to look at the hospital’s coronavirus and other needs and plan accordingly.
“We’re in this cycle of ramping down, ramping up, ramping down, ramping up,” Bolano said. “It’s very unstable, and it’s frustrating.”
St. Luke’s has not had any layoffs or furloughs since the pandemic began, spokesperson Anita Kissee said by email.
“That has allowed us to retain our talent and redeploy them across the organization to areas where they are most needed,” Kissee said.
St. Luke’s is recruiting for about 350 positions across its health system, which includes hospitals and clinics in Boise, Meridian, Nampa, Twin Falls, McCall and Ketchum.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
