Hospital lays off workers

McLeod Loris Seacoast, which operates hospitals and health care centers on the north end, has laid off 48 workers this week, saying it needed to restructure because of several factors that has affected the business’ finances.

Workers started receiving notices Wednesday, with the cuts coming in several departments, spokeswoman Celeste Bondurant-Bell said.

“It’s kind of across the board,” she said. “We are doing some restructuring.”

The cuts come just months after the local hospitals merged with McLeod Health in Florence, but Bondurant-Bell said that relationship didn’t prompt the workforce reductions. Voters approved that merger on the Nov. 1 ballot.

The hospital system had to trim workers because of financial pressure, according to a written statement from Bondurant-Bell. The hospital doesn’t receive as much from Medicare and Medicaid because of reductions in reimbursements, and more patients aren’t able to pay for services because they’ve lost their employer health insurance during the tough economy, she said.

Those “are financially stressing our not-for-profit mission of providing medical treatment to all regardless of their means,” Bondurant-Bell said in the written statement.

The hospital system has about 1,000 workers at Loris and Seacoast hospitals and the extended care facility. The hospital system anticipates adding workers back once economic conditions improve, according to the written statement.

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