Executives at the University of Rochester Medical Center outlined some of the measures, including furloughs, that have been taken in response to the fiscal crisis caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
During a virtual news conference, which occured on the day that furloughs across the medical center began, Chief Financial Officer Adam Anolik said URMC prepared for a surge in COVID-19 cases that never occurred. After two months without non-essential services and clinical visits, and some 200 unused hospital beds, a financial crisis developed.
“Our latest estimates right now is that our clinical revenue will fall short of budget by $386 million in the period from March to June,” Anolik said.
The furloughs, which began today, affect over 19 percent of URMC’s workforce of nearly 18,000 people.
Associate Vice President of Human Resources Kathleen Gallucci says those being furloughed are not the frontline doctors and nurses, and are intended to be temporary. The large majority of the furloughs are partial furloughs, or those working a limited schedule.
“There’s financial, administrative staff, there’s office managers. It’s really a wide swath of people who [were] furloughed,” Gallucci said.
Chief Medical Officer Michael Apostolakos said over 200 physicians have voluntarily taken pay cuts while others will be seeing their pay reduced.
“Starting in July, all faculty will have a ten percent reduction for those making over $100,000,” Apostolakos said. “And that’s the vast majority.”
Apostolakos said no one is happy about taking a pay cut or being furloughed, but he said the response from faculty and staff at URMC, and how they have pulled together, has been amazing.