CHOMP Closes a Nursing Unit - Central Coast News KION/KCBA

Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula closed it's Garden West nursing unit Thursday afternoon. The hospital says it has no idea what health care reform will bring and wants to be ready to weather the storm. CHOMP says this is all apart of its cost reduction plan to operate the hospital more efficiently. So far only one position has been eliminated, the Director of the Garden West nursing unit, all other employees were moved to different departments.

But in the months to come, more employees will be leaving the company. CHOMP says it's trying to reduce its annual budget by $36 million over the next couple of years. Officials think that will help make health care more affordable.

To get to that new budget number, CHOMP will start offering early retirement to some employees in October. If more reductions are needed, voluntary layoffs will happen in February. Depending on the budget, the hospital could announce additional layoffs in March. 

Central Coast News talked with Salinas Valley Memorial and Natividad Medical Center today. Both hospitals say their finances are looking good, patient flow is steady and neither hospital has plans to make significant staffing changes for now.