MaineGeneral Health in Augusta is revising downward the number of positions that will be lost due to financial challenges made worse by capped MaineCare payments and a state budget deficit.
President and CEO Nathan Howell says 20 positions, not the 100 announced in March, will be cut. The health care system is reducing hours for 14 employees, offering redeployment to 60 others, and leaving 54 open positions unfilled.
Howell says MaineGeneral is looking to save roughly $30 million through the next fiscal year, which starts in July.
"We need help," he says. "It would be really nice if the state was able to help, or if our legislators were able to help us, even to consider how some bills and things that run through the state would affect employers and health care, would be helpful."
Howell says MaineGeneral is also freezing discretionary spending, consolidating some offices and reducing hours and services at some locations.
The changes come as MaineGeneral is also working to absorb patients from Northern Light Inland Hospital in Waterville, which is closing in June.
An analysis released this week by the Maine Hospital Association found that the state's larger hospitals rank among the lowest in the U.S. for key financial health indicators.
