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Hospital freezes pension plans
The move affects about 1,400 nonunion employees, including management positions, and will be effective for all of the hospital's operating units, including its off-site functions.
The news comes just three months after the hospital opened a $69 million expansion, the largest in its history.
In a May 14 letter to employees, which was sent anonomously to the Observer-Reporter, Washington Hospital Chief Executive Officer Telford Thomas wrote that the recession "has caused a temporary flattening of patient volumes, decreases in payments from government sources and increases in delinquent accounts as people have either lost insurance altogether or had it reduced.
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The hospital has 1,853 full-time employees, and about 400 of those are unionized. Thomas said the hospital is contractually bound to contribute toward the pensions of union employees, whose current contract expires Jan. 31.
Thomas noted the hospital expansion, which included a new emergency department, four new operating rooms and a 26-bed critical care unit, "was undertaken in response to steady increases in our service area population; the aging of the population and increasing utilization of (the emergency department); surgical and critical care services; and to remain competitive. We are confident that those trends will continue in the long run."
Thomas said Monday that while the hospital has seen an upturn in its census recently, "that doesn't cover what you have invested and the covenants you have on bonds." He added that both the state and the federal government are threatening to further reduce reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
"It's nothing that anyone here did," Thomas said. "We have to respond to what's happening out there." Noting that the hospital industry tends to lag behind what's happening in the general economy by about six months, Thomas said hospitals across the country are undergoing similar cost-cutting measures.
"It's not about sharing the wealth; it's about sharing the pain," he said in describing measures being taken in the industry.
The hospital's pension is a defined benefit plan, paid as a single life annuity at the time of an employee's retirement.
Thomas told employees that they will not lose any benefit they have earned through June 30, and that it will be paid at the time of their retirement. He said employees will receive a benefit statement showing their estimated frozen accrued benefit as of July 1. Employee meetings also will be scheduled within the next several weeks.
"We are currently exploring other retirement plan options that balance the need of managing costs while providing you with a measure of future retirement security," Thomas wrote, adding that the hospital is also exploring other cost management initiatives.
He said Monday that employees can continue to make voluntary contributions to a retirement savings plan, but that the hospital does not make contributions to it.
Hospital freezes pension plans : 5/19/2009
Wow-like they say, who's watching the watch dog? Has management heard of marketing? Recession or not, people get sick. Have the 'owners' i.e. board members heard of new management? Has the CEO given up anything? I think there are a lot of solutions that can be 'found' without a slap in the face to those who work there!
Hospital : 5/19/2009
It would seem from the statement above that many management employess have "shared the wealth." So, I have to ask why is a hospital acting like a wall-street fat cat in the first place?
hospital freeze : 5/19/2009
What's wrong with this picture? Big ticket expansion needed because of a "steady increase in population area" etc. At the same time a "flattening of patient volume"? Sounds contradictory. Oh yes, share the pain!!! with those who keep the hospital functioning.
Hospital freezes pension plans : 5/19/2009
How much was in the pension fund? Is the pension fund over funded? What has happens to the excess amout of the pension fund after the cost of the annuity? Who get this?
Hospital Pension Plans : 5/19/2009
As the spouse of a hospial employee, it was quite a shock to us that the pension plan was frozen, without more information or notice. I think they reacted too quickly, and should have reviewed more options with the input of the employees.There are always options, and making financial decisions for over 1400 employees without their involvement is ridiculous. I wonder how much of a bonus the board will get for this "cost saving measure"?
Hospital Freeze : 5/19/2009
Sounds like its time for the Washington Hopsital to invest in a new C.E.O. If Telford Thomas is truly a man of integrity he'd publish what HIS COMPENSATION, RETIREMENT and TOTAL BENEFIT PACKAGES are compared to averages for other management personnel and workers at the hospital. And, oh yes, what "sacrifices" he's making to "share the pain."
Hospital : 5/19/2009
You should get your facts straight before commenting on something that you obviously don't know anything about. And I might add . . . if you are going to write something you should at least have the courage to sign your name.
hospital freeze : 5/19/2009
Ok, Mr Thomas you freeze the pentions for the cogs that keep the place making money for you! you say this expansion was needed due to area growth, but in the same breath the cencus is down i don't think so. my family has been in and out of that hospital for the last year or so and i see just how hard those nurses and aides work up there most times they are working short staffed with full units of patients! so why do you say the patient volume has decreased. it has decreased because you sir as the ceo have told someone under you to slow down on addmissions. so you can justify this freeze and i've heard roumors of u useing this as an excuse to also layoff the hard working men and women that allow you to make the big bucks i bet your pention was not affected or all of your vice presidents. all that over head and big money spent on them i bet you never thought to take a pay cut yourself or cut those v.p. 6 figure pay wages did you. no hurt the lil' man so to speak. most of the money you use to bulid this new portion of the hospital was grant money state and federal right. it was told to us john q public in articals in this fine paper. thank you o-r for the truth and the facts it's nice to know there are real people that care about the truth. post note i hear that Mr. Thomas plas to lay these hard woring people off non union and union how fair is that people. let us satnd behind the good people that provide great care for our families. do't let him stand unaccountable.
Hospital frezze : 5/19/2009
If Eugene Strosser was still CEO I bet you this would have never happened. He was a man of class and integrity I hope the Hospital board steps in and help out the loyal employees of Washington Hospital. To get the news in a letter. He could not even tell us to faces.
frozen funds : 5/19/2009
they been freezing fund as long as i am old. check the supplies. they get cheeper and cheeper. why? so they can pay top management millions of dollars for them to splerge on vacations spots and 5 star hotels. in the meantime the little man gets no raises or insintives for the working man to have something to look forward too.
Daddys Girl : 5/19/2009
As for the comment posted by Sara Schumacher, aka, Sara Cline, Daughter of the VP of Human Resources.....First Thing, It's easy to post your comments and opinions defending the hospital and daddy without fear of losing your job. As your fellow hospital workers know, your job will be secure thanks to your dad! Most of us are already in fear of losing our jobs, so leaving a name off is NOT the point! The point of the matter is that the facts are: no one, not anyone at the hospital listened to the voices of the "working people". We have all voiced our opinions and asked for resolutions that would benefit most importantly, the patients, the employees and the hospital but we have received little or NO help or response from the "higher ups"! There are so many easy solutions that could have been made or changed to the problems at hand but nothing was done. If you look at the facts Mr. Thomas has contradicted himself. The new addition was a necessity to keep up with the increasing patient needs, however he said there's been a recession, yeah right! he and the VP's should come out from behind their desks and take a look at the hospital and the floors. They should be around on the off-shifts, weekends and holidays to see what we the "working people" face on a daily basis. To you, Mrs. Schumacher and the other higher ups, try being there when on all the off-shifts u normally are working short staffed and take a look at the facts! Also one last note, when this "needed" expansion was being designed, wouldn't you think that they should have put some thought behind the functionability of it? there are so many problems with the design, the distance between units, the over looked areas that for the "working people" it has been nothing but a nightmare for the employees and patients! you would have thought that while increasing the number of er patients u can take in has increased, it doesn't do anyone any good becasue they created not ONE new patient room for them to go to once they are admitted? its still surprising to me that no one thought about thatbefore hand & if they did, choose to ignore it?
hospital freeze : 5/19/2009
OK there is a recession and we have all been hit but that is an extra blow to the workers to take from their retirement. It is not a big sum of money as many places have way better plans but it something and these people have worked hard for it. Are the administration giving up anything? Is Mr. Thomas still getting his bonus as he has everyother year? Is Mr Thomas still driving a vehicle paid for by the hospital? Just seems the comment about sharing the pain is not so shared. Administration does not feel the crunch they just keep spending and reaping while the workers give concessions and work harder with staff shortages. Also they contiunally are asking for employee contributions and then they do stuff like this. Fair? I think that it should also be known how much that Administration has given up.
Thank-You Nurses : 5/19/2009
This is the thanks the nurses get for mandatory double shifts when the census was high and the employee pool was low.
Hospital Pension Freeze : 5/19/2009
Really do not know enough about the situation to offer an educated statement so I can only generalize my comments. The hospital is there to help us in our time of need. Like the police, some complain about their job but they are first people you call when you are in trouble. Let us give the hospital the benefit of the doubt, and wait to some management team who cares not for his job, blow the whistle if there is money wasted and this freeze needed not to be implemented. We should remember that hospitals are non-profit organizations, which should be able to post up their balance with all their costs, and revenues right here for our inspection. They should also denote within that report the breakdown for each occupational classification including the board members and CEO, presidents, etc. Once that information is brought to light, let us take sides and get to the debate. We need the financial facts Mr. Thomas to support your claims.
Pension Freeze : 5/19/2009
I am an employee of the hosptial and have been for some time now. "It's not about sharing the wealth; it's about sharing the pain." I have never heard him speak anything truer. Washington Hosptial NEVER shares the wealth, only the pain. So, thank you Mr. Thomas for having our back. Thank you for letting us down. You have continually taken money out of our pay to "pay" for a parking lot that was donated to the hospital, annually raised our insurance so that part-time employees can no longer afford it. Will you not be happy until your hospital is empty and you have to hire flunkies? When are you going to reward the "little people" that keep your place running. Seems to me, and alot of other people that you wasted alot of money to built your new wing! And yet you ask me to take money out of my paycheck to give back to a hospital that does nothing from me except take away my security. So thanks, Mr. Thomas for absolutely nothing!!
greed : 5/19/2009
ALL NON UNION EMPLOYEESS NEED TO GET THEMSELF A UNION CONTRACT SO NO MORE IS TAKEN FROM THEM BY MANAGEMENT WHO DONT CARE ABOUT THEM. ITS TIME FOR THE 400 UNION EMPLOYEES TI CLIMB UP OVER 1000 UNION EMPLOYEES
Hospital Freeze : 5/19/2009
As a hospital employee I find Mr. Thomas' remark a joke. The patient count is up and he would know that if you would listen to his employees. They keep cutting the little guys. How about we cut all the upper management and lets hire some full time employees. You can build an even bigger ER but if you don't hire no personel, people are still going to have to wait hours.
Hospital Freeze - Dad's Girl : 5/20/2009
To my fellow working employee who feels they are speaking for everyone here - I guess you weren't around a few years ago when the hospital cut jobs. I was part of that reduction and was laid off. So, again before you post something you should have your facts straight. I am not a coward and will continue to post my name loud and clear as Cline or Schumacher. That is more than I can say for the other people posting on this site.
Speak For Yourself : 5/20/2009
I too am a "working employee" at The Washington Hospital, and I don't appreciate the person above signing his or her post "The Working Employees." He or she needs to get the facts straight - and learn proper grammar - before claiming to speak for the rest of us.
"Working Employees" : 5/20/2009
If you hate it that bad all you working employees, then LEAVE!! Please go, the hospital will always be around, and will continue to thrive in this economy with or with out you. If you think that you can find employement in this community that pays better with more benefits and why are you still there?!?! If you have never worked in HR and I have, then you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. Get a clue about CEO benefits! In what world do you think the Hospital pays for the CEO or any VP's for thay matter car or summer houses.
working employees : 5/20/2009
Dear KB: Yes, there are better paying jobs out there-call it competition. Yes, we have a clue - just pull up the financial statements. Of course, no CEO or VP is going to post his summer house or company car for all to see! Probably not even for his accountant to see! Just because non-union and/or union hirees are considered 'lower-rung' by your firm doesn't mean they have no clue. They live in the real world, my dear!
pensions cut : 5/25/2009
For those of you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Mr. telford Thomas then you don't know that he is one of the finest CEO's in the USA. he is committed to The Washington Hospital as well as the employees. For those who don't understand the financial crisis in health care the you should do some research before you post such ridiculous comments about Mr. Thomas. As an ex-employee, I am proud of my hospital and of a CEO who CARES.
WOW! : 11/8/2009
With all this bickering back and forth is anyone still taking care of the patients?
