MVHS announces staff furloughs as part of four-month COVID-19 recovery plan

UTICA, N.Y. — Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) on Wednesday implemented a furlough of some employees that will continue through Aug. 13.

MVHS emphasizes that “employees may be called back sooner based on patient demand.”

The number of full-time employees (FTE) to be furloughed in each department is “based on [Wednesday] volume in that area and overall volumes at MVHS.”

The furloughs are part of a four-month, COVID-19 recovery plan that MVHS announced Tuesday.

MVHS says it is losing $5 million each week as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, financial losses it calls “devastating.”

The losses are due to investments it made in expanding capacity for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients; simultaneously suspending “lucrative” elective surgeries and procedures, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo had mandated; and a drop of more than 50 percent in volume for services across the entire health system, MVHS said.

The four-month recovery plan is designed to address financial losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic while also ramping up plans for reopening its services. MVHS has a goal of being back at 80 percent of its volumes “by the end of this summer.”

On Tuesday, Cuomo said hospitals will be able to resume performing elective outpatient treatments on April 28, if the hospital’s available bed capacity is over 25 percent for the county and if there have been fewer than 10 new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in that county over the past 10 days. Patients will also be tested for the coronavirus and must test negative prior to any elective outpatient treatment. e surgeries.

Furlough details

A furlough means that MVHS employees remain employees of the organization and aren’t terminated, it explained. As patient and surgery volumes increase, the health system anticipates calling its furloughed employees back to work “as the need arises.”

MVHS also notes that employees who are furloughed can apply for unemployment insurance, including the enhanced unemployment funds from the federal government.

Employees will also retain the employer contribution to their health-insurance coverage.

MVHS is planning to suspend employer contributions to the 401(k)/403(b) plans for both furloughed employees and those still working.

A few days earlier on April 17, MVHS implemented cost-saving initiatives that included salary reductions for MVHS leadership and employed providers; a hiring freeze; and a freeze on new tuition reimbursement. MVHS noted that it will pay for the semester tuition that had already been committed.

Other actions

MVHS also plans to suspend on-site urgent care visits, noting that telehealth visits will be available. It’ll also review “other opportunities” for temporarily suspending services.

The health system will also be reviewing and renegotiating service contracts; reviewing and negotiating cost-savings opportunities with medical staff; and eliminating all discretionary spending and deferring capital acquisitions.

MVHS future

MVHS now sees its future “in three phases.” First, it is seeking additional federal financial relief and support to cover the “huge” costs it incurred to expand its capacity to be prepared for a surge of COVID-19 patients, and some consideration for the loss of non-COVID patient volume.

The next phase, which it is now working toward, is recovery with a four-month COVID-19 recovery plan.

And then, MVHS says it will enter the “rebuilding phase,” which will “likely take a few years.”