Kona Community Hospital said Monday it will cut 34 positions by Aug. 1 and shut down its 18-bed skilled-nursing unit.
"It is with deep regret that we must make these decisions," said Jay Kreuzer, West Hawaii Regional CEO of Hawaii Health Systems Corp., in a news release.
The skilled-nursing unit was not being fully utilized, the news release said.
The skilled-nursing unit had, on average, only six patients at a time although it had room for 18. Skilled-nursing services can be provided by other facilities nearby, hospital officials said.
The skilled-nursing beds are not being de-licensed, and could potentially be reopened at some time, the officials said.
The reductions are part of the systemwide cuts being made by state-supported hospitals to address a $50 million projected deficit for fiscal 2016.
Kona Community Hospital is a 94-bed full-service acute-care hospital and is a member of the Hawaii Health Systems Corp., which the state established in 1996.
Kona hospital officials said the closure of the skilled-nursing unit was due to "a $6 million budget shortfall created in part by increased costs of collective bargaining and retiree health benefits, which in the past years were paid by the state. This year, the state opted not to fund these expenses."
Said Kreuzer: "Over the past several years, the entire hospital staff has pulled together to help address our financial challenges. Our hospital departments are running efficiently, and there is no excess or waste to be trimmed. Sadly, these efforts do not offset our fiscal year 2016 deficit due to lack of state funding.
"We are profoundly aware that the lives of these employees are being impacted. They have been valued members of our work family. These are very difficult times for our hospital."
Employees who were cut will have the option of being placed in budgeted vacant positions within their bargaining units, the news release said.
