Alta Vista Regional Hospital laying off three employees

Nov. 13—Alta Vista Regional Hospital in Las Vegas, N.M., is laying off three members of its night shift registration team, a move the facility's interim CEO says is part of a strategy to "rightsize" the workforce but a union leader said is concerning.

Amanda Shurtz, who was brought in as interim CEO earlier this year by the hospital's management company, confirmed the layoffs in an email late Tuesday evening, adding the people being let go include two full-time employees and one part-timer.

"Each has been invited to apply for other roles within the hospital, as we highly value their contributions and would like to retain them as part of our team," Shurtz wrote in the email.

The small Las Vegas hospital has been plagued with problems for years, including with hiring and retaining medical staff. The facility was hit with a lawsuit from then-Attorney General Hector Balderas two years ago that alleged the hospital was in substandard condition and falsely advertising services it could no longer provide. Quorum Health, the Tennessee-based company that owned Alta Vista at the time, settled the suit before selling the hospital to its current owners, Dava Health Inc., another Tennessee firm.

Dava's hospitals are all managed by Java Medical Group, which brought in Shurtz in July to replace another interim CEO while the hospital searches for a permanent leader.

Shurtz on Tuesday wrote in an email Java's priority is to ensure Alta Vista is around for "many years to come."

"These decisions are part of a broader strategy we've undertaken this year to rightsize our workforce, making necessary adjustments to maintain the hospital's long-term stability and focus resources where they are most needed," she wrote. "While this included some reductions, it also involved creating new positions in areas essential to providing high-quality care."

But Yolanda Ulmer, CEO of District 1199NM of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees, which represents hospital employees other than administrators and security staff, said the news is worrisome.

"The union does have concerns about this," Ulmer said. "Now that these employees are being laid off, it's leaving the rest of the employees that are working, and that department ... to take on more duties now."

Ulmer said she met with hospital leaders Monday after receiving a 45-day notice about the layoffs, and will meet again next week, in part to hammer out severance packages for those three workers, as well as to learn more about the implications for remaining staff members.

"If they're going to add more duties to the job, it's kind of a change in working conditions," Ulmer said.