Trustees approve Erlanger hospital restructuring plan
The moves comes after trustees agreed in October to repay $37 million to Medicare and $3 million to the state following a federal investigation that showed the hospital paid physicians’ groups to steer patients to its facilities.
The restructuring plan, if successful in the long run, will not require layoffs of any of the hospital’s 4,500 employees, Erlanger CEO Jim Brexler said.
But the plan will include “redesigning the present structure of management” to make each supervisor responsible for more people, he said.
The recommendations were made by ACS Healthcare Solutions, consultants hired as part of the hospital’s agreement with federal regulators.
The consultants’s report identified $35.7 million in potential savings and additional revenue, and also suggested the hospital could sell its downtown Medical Mall and then lease it for a potential $48 million.
Other recommendations include:
— Changing the way care is documented and submitted for insurance repayment.
— Moving patients more quickly through the emergency department.
— Changing the way surgeries are scheduled.
— Billing sooner after patients leave the hospital, and pursuing repayment more aggressively.
— Buying supplies more efficiently.
The plan takes into account changes in the TennCare program will cost $6 million in the current fiscal year and $10 million in each of the next two years.
“It’s the next stage in a series of things that we’re doing to make sure Erlanger is sustained and continues to deliver the quality service that it needs to deliver,” Brexler said.
Erlanger is a nonprofit teaching center affiliated with the University of Tennessee College of Medicine and operates as a trauma center and tertiary care provider for southeast Tennessee, north Georgia, north Alabama and western North Carolina.