Hawaii Medical Center

A month after filing for bankruptcy, Hawaii Medical Centers said it will cut about 150 workers in its latest round of staff reductions. The layoffs reflect an 18 percent reduction in its 830-member work force. The financially troubled HMC said it is overstaffed since its patient census at each hospital has plunged to 50 percent while a new operating model is moving patients out of the hospital faster. The layoffs will affect employees across the board, except for doctors, at both its Liliha and Ewa facilities. HMC is reducing both facilities to 50-bed hospitals as part of its strategy to become profitable and emerge from bankruptcy within 12 months, said HMC's director of implementation, who was brought on board in April to turn around operations. HMC-East is licensed for 188 beds, while HMC-West can have 102 beds. The hospitals have been overstaffed by between 20 and 30 percent for a while, but HMC failed to increase referrals and capacity as fast as it expected, the company said.