PROSSER -- PMH Medical Center in Prosser announced an undisclosed number of layoffs Thursday in anticipation of state and federal budget cuts, officials said.
Hospital spokesman Fred Lamb said the hospital expects a $2.3 million reduction in state and federal funding. It is taking pre-emptive measures to cut its budget before Congress and the Legislature adopt their budgets.
The hospital's board has not yet adopted a 2012 budget, Lamb said.
"What's happened is we know statewide and federal reimbursements are going to be cut," Lamb said. "We may as well start adopting some changes now.... Nothing is going to be left off the table."
The $2.3 million cut would be to the hospital's Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. That represents about 44 percent of the money PMH gets from those programs.
"All of health care is going through a reform right now," he said. "We have to maintain the quality of health care delivery as best we can. We need to have a viable hospital that is here to serve the patients and to serve their needs immediately."
