FORT SMITH — Baptist Health-Fort Smith is eliminating an additional 70 jobs, hospital leadership announced Tuesday.

“Like many organizations, we regularly evaluate our operations to ensure we are running efficiently and responsibly. Due to a sustained decrease in service volumes and the duplication of certain roles, we have made the difficult decision to eliminate approximately 70 positions in the Fort Smith area,” according to a Tuesday email from Brandi Stewart, interim president of Baptist Health Western Region.

“Decisions that impact our people are never taken lightly. We are fully committed to supporting our affected colleagues through this transition with severance and job placement assistance. Please note that these adjustments will not impact our services or the quality of care we provide to our community,” Stewart said in the email.

This announcement comes after the hospital announced April 29 its plans for the closure of several departments and clinics in Fort Smith. Among in-patient services to be discontinued are nephrology, pulmonary, oncology, and infectious disease services.

The April 29 release said the closures would take place over the following 60 days.

The transition announced April 29 was said to include about 150 employees being laid off, including 10 physicians, according to the release.

Services that are staying include the Baptist Health emergency department, operating rooms and surgical services, medical-surgical nursing including low-acuity ICU beds, geriatric psychiatry and radiology services, according to the release.

However, no changes are planned for Baptist Health-Van Buren, according to company officials.

Baptist Health announced on March 30 that it would be ending labor and delivery services in Fort Smith effective April 28, citing a drop in births at the hospital.

Ashley Torres can be reached by email at atorres@rivervalleydemocratgazette.com.

Original source: us