Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center Announces Cost-Cutting Measures Through June

The workforce at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is paying a paycheck price to make up for the financial shortcomings to date of its Epic electronic records system. The center said in a statement Thursday it has begun another round of cost-cutting measures that will last through at least June 30, the end of its 2012-13 fiscal year.

The measures include attempts at volunteer employee furloughs and hour-and-wage reductions, a hiring freeze, a reduction in employer retirement contributions, and elimination of executive incentive bonuses for 2013. Dr. John McConnell, the center’s chief executive, told employees of the initiative in a memo Wednesday. It has more than 13,000 full- and part-time employees — the county’s largest workforce...

The cost-cutting steps were not unexpected based on what the center said in April in a financial report submitted to bond agencies. It reported a $49.6 million operational loss and a gain of $7.4 million in overall excess revenue in its second quarter of fiscal 2012-13, which ended Dec. 31...In the report to the bond agencies, Wake Forest Baptist said it had spent about $13.3 million directly on the Epic system, which went live in September, through Dec. 31...The center cited $8 million in “other Epic-related implementation expense” that it listed among “business-cycle disruptions (that) have had a greater-than-anticipated impact on volumes and productivity.” Also listed was $26.6 million in lost margin “due to interim volume disruptions during initial go-live and post go-live optimization.”...