By Dan Hust
HARRIS — Catskill Regional Medical Center (CRMC) is planning to shift around 50 of its 975 employees to Orange Regional Medical Center’s (ORMC’s) new facility over the next year.
CRMC spokesman J.P. McGuirk confirmed on Friday that plans are being formulated to transfer the fiscal division in Harris to Middletown.
“We’re all a part of the Greater Hudson Valley Health System [GHVHS],” he noted, speaking of the four-year-old partnership between CRMC and ORMC.
Integration of the legal, audit and real estate, human resources and information technology departments has already occurred, McGuirk said, though jobs weren’t moved as a result.
The fiscal division will gradually be shifted over the course of 2011 and 2012.
The employees of CRMC’s accounting, medical records and patient financial services departments will join their colleagues at ORMC’s brand new facility off Route 17’s Exit 122, about 32 miles away.
An aging building behind the Harris hospital currently housing fiscal staff will be shuttered as a result.
No layoffs are planned, said McGuirk, though positions vacated due to attrition may not be refilled. Some jobs may slightly change, he added.
McGuirk will be one of the employees affected, spending three days in Harris and two days in Middletown every week.
“I see it as a great opportunity,” he remarked, noting efficiencies like less long-distance meetings and more direct interaction with coworkers.
“The purpose of combining the corporate departments is to save money on overhead expenses and standardize work at both organizations,” added ORMC and GHVHS CEO Scott Batulis in a blog statement. “We continue to work closer and more efficiently as one system. This is good for both organizations; strengthening each hospital individually.”
McGuirk also confirmed CRMC CEO Steve Ruwoldt’s previous comments that neither the Harris nor Callicoon divisions will see cuts in any services offered to the public.