Aberdeen hospital cuts 21 jobs in move to improve billing services

Grays Harbor Community Hospital cut 21 jobs Friday after the Aberdeen hospital announced it was outsourcing those jobs to a company called AVEC Health Solutions.

The Daily World reports that business is based in Utah. AVEC took over billing services Friday.

“We find ourselves at the point where we need to bring in a more specialized service to effectively attend to our patient’s billing concerns,” said Grays Harbor Community Hospital CEO Tom Jensen in a statement.

Those concerns: Billing delays and inaccuracies, according to a news release.

Although the move to outsource is considered cost neutral, the hospital expects that once patient billing is processed efficiently and accurately it will increase cash flow to the organization.

Because of the confidential nature of billing work, the 21 employees were walked out of the hospital Friday, according to the Daily World. The employees will be paid for the next nine weeks and also will receive severance based on their years of service.

The Daily World reports AVEC is expected to open an office in Grays Harbor and some of the laid-off workers may have an opportunity to work there. AVEC plans to have five employees stationed at the hospital.

This story was originally published January 14, 2018 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Aberdeen hospital cuts 21 jobs in move to improve billing services."