New Hanover Regional Medical Center is looking closely at expenses, but no layoffs are foreseen in the immediate future.
“There are no layoffs planned. We will continue to look carefully at each new position as it is requested or comes open,” hospital spokeswoman Carolyn Fisher said late last week.

NHRMC and its affiliates may be holding the line in this challenging economy, but Novant Health’s Brunswick Community Hospital announced the layoff of 15 employees last week, in 13 different hospital departments. Three administrative positions were eliminated at the hospital in June.

Novant’s 12-hospital healthcare system had initiated other forms of fiscal belt tightening before the layoffs were announced, including the consolidation of supply and equipment purchases.

Brunswick Community Hospital spokeswoman Amy Myers said the layoffs and elimination of the three management positions will save Novant Health about $200,000 annually, or about $2.4 million.

At NHRMC, “We will focus our efforts on ensuring we have the right staffing to meet our patients’ needs as well as controlling costs, and growing business wherever possible,” Fisher said.

New Hanover Regional Medical Center and its affiliated medical group is the region’s largest employer. The layoffs at Brunswick Community Hospital reduce staff there to 443 full- and part-time employees.

Novant Health is moving forward with the construction of the Brunswick Novant Medical Center, which is scheduled to open in summer 2011. The outer shell of Novant’s Wilmington Surgery Center off Eastwood Road in New Hanover County is complete, but the opening of the same-day surgery facility has been put on hold in the current economy.

Patients are opting for less elective surgeries and are cutting back on routine medical procedures like physical exams, Myers said.
It’s an indication that market conditions are trickling down to the healthcare sector, which many considered recession-proof.

Myers said Novant Health had to make some hard choices to ensure the not-for-profit healthcare system can continue to provide affordable services.

“We’ve got to make tough decisions right now to ensure we have the resources to continue to deliver high quality care to the communities we serve in the years ahead,” she said.