When companies merge, little is usually certain except for this: People are going to lose their jobs.
But as St. Agnes Medical Center begins a partnership with neighboring Methodist Hospital next week, officials are attempting to reassure employees otherwise.
Though the hospitals will spend the remainder of the year phasing out redundant services as St. Agnes converts to a long-term care facility, there should be no need to cut jobs, said St. Agnes spokesperson Teresa Heavens.
"One of our biggest goals was job retention," said Heavens. "We knew going into this that we had more jobs than bodies. There has been no fear of job redundancy."
Heavens pointed out the hospitals already are staffed by many of the same doctors.
Chief Administrative Officer Jim Robinson, of Methodist, was more reserved in his assessment.
"Both hospitals are working very hard to minimize the loss of jobs," he said. "Between the two hospitals, I believe we have been able to place all but maybe 50 employees."
The hospitals are still attempting to identify openings that would fit the skills of those employees, Robinson noted.
It was back in January that Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals and Mercy Health Systems — parent companies of Methodist and St. Agnes, respectively — announced "a new healthcare vision to better serve South Philadelphia."
The gradual merger begins this week.
Methodist, at Broad and Wolf streets, will expand its emergency room and inpatient facilities for short-term acute care while St. Agnes, Broad and McKean streets, will expand its long-term care facility, Heavens said.
"The plan is for the hospitals to provide complementary services," Heavens explained. "Let’s say you bring your mother in for a problem to Methodist. If her problems persist and she requires long-term care, she’ll be transferred to St. Agnes."
The parent companies are hoping the new partnership will help curb combined losses in excess of $10 million between 2002 and 2003. However, before the facilities can make money, they will have to spend it.
Thomas Jefferson Hospitals and Mercy Health Systems will spend $12.5 million-$15 million in capital investments to improve and expand services to fit their plans.
According to Robinson, Methodist expects to be out of the red and into the black by next year under the new model.
"Those expenditures are capital expenditures," the CAO said. "They don’t count against hospital operating costs."
St. Agnes representatives declined to comment on the financial details of the partnership.
But Heavens acknowledged that both hospitals decided consolidation was the key to survival.
"The outcome could have been one of the hospitals closing," Heavens said of the two facilities that have been serving South Philly residents for more than a century.
Patients have become accustomed to changes in healthcare options at the two hospitals. For example, Methodist closed its maternity ward in 2002; St. Agnes stopped delivering babies in 1983. In April, St. Agnes closed its nationally renowned Center for Advanced Burn and Wound Care, since the facility was no longer licensed to provide acute care.
Under the next phase of consolidation, Methodist will work to expand its emergency care facilities — a process expected to take six months.
During that time, "both ERs will remain open," stressed Phyllis Fisher, a spokesperson for Methodist. "The community will continue to be served by the ER at St. Agnes until the facility at Methodist is ready to handle the greater volume."
The partnership also will affect the future of the Methodist Hospital Nursing Center, Fourth and Porter streets.
Robinson confirmed that Jefferson is in talks to sell the elderly-care facility, but said a confidentiality clause precluded him from offering more details.
However, he added a condition of the sale is that the center remains a long-term care facility.
As is the case with the hospital, the hope is that the new owner keeps "most, if not all of the staff there," Robinson said.
Officials at both hospitals maintain the transition will allow both facilities to better serve the South Philadelphia community.
"We’re moving from a competition model to one of cooperation," said Robinson. "The two hospitals are only three blocks from each other. We expect this to be successful and we hope to become a model for other hospitals in the same situation."
