The U Board of Trustees approved the 2009-2010 U Hospital and Clinics budget Tuesday morning.
It was passed unanimously, even though the trustees doubted if a smaller budget would allow U Hospitals and Clinics to maintain its current revenue stream and protect jobs and patient care during the nation’seconomic downturn.
“I think the wild card is health care reform,” said U President Michael Young. “It is the one major unknown.”
During themost recentLegislative session, the state cut Medicaid payments by 20 percent for Utah hospitals, which meant a loss of $12 million for U Hospitals and Clinics.
In light of the reduced outside funding, the budget was approved for $875 million after being reviewed 44 times, said Quinn Mckenna, chief operating officer for the hospital.
One major cut was made to the budget–$8 million in labor costs. But the cut was not in job loss, rather in overtime and salary increases. The hospital is also still investing in its employees’ 401k plans.
“We want to protect jobs,” Mckenna said. He also said new jobs would be added because of the ongoing expansion of the hospital. The hospital also created a new executive director position in the human resources department, and approved the expansion of the patient care pavilion.
With this new budget, they still hope to achieve the goal of becoming the hospital of choice in the community, creating a stellar institution and balancing the quality of institution with good finances, he said.