PARADISE: Feather River Hospital Braces For Cuts

      The Feather River Hospital in Paradise has announced it will cut half of its top-level administrative staff as part of an effort to save $4.3 million a year, the Chico Enterprise-Record reports. Hospital President George Pifer announced in November that the facility would have to become "leaner and more efficient" to continue to survive in the changing health care market.Owned by Adventist Health System, the hospital has been squeezed by the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which "significantly" reduced hospital payments for Medicare and Medi-Cal patients, a hospital spokesperson said. Additionally, HMO "cut-rate contracts" have driven down revenue. Under the reductions, the hospital's administrative staff, currently numbering 12 employees, will be reduced to six. Pifer also will trim "unproductive hours." For example, employees who work three 12-hour shifts will be paid for 36 hours, instead of the 40 hours of pay they currently receive. The hospital let go 4% of its workforce last August after months of "disappointing financial returns" (Mitchell, 5/19).