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CEO of Harnett Health System resigns; possible management takeover vote days away [The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.](Fayetteville Observer (NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 26--LILLINGTON -- With a possible management takeover vote just days away, Harnett Health System shed an unspecified number of employees Friday, including its top manager, according to multiple sources. Ken Bryan, the health system's chief executive officer, resigned Friday in a letter to employees, who were told via email to expect layoffs through the end of the day. It's not clear how many employees were let go. The health system spokeswoman could not be reached. Employees said she was among those cut. Bryan was employed by WakeMed Health and Hospitals, which manages the private nonprofit's hospitals in Dunn and Lillington. Tax forms show the system losing more than $24 million in the year that ended in September 2013, and Cape Fear Valley Health System has reportedly been considering taking over management of the rural system. The Cape Fear Valley board of trustees is scheduled to meet Wednesday. "There has not been a vote, but I anticipate it being a topic of discussion," Jeannette Council, chairwoman of the 7-member Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, and all of whom are trustees on the Cape Fear Valley board, said Saturday. "Nothing can be done until the board has voted, and the board has not voted. Has there been discussion? Yes." Harnett Health was formed in 2005 as a partnership between Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital in Dunn, the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and WakeMed. After multiple legal and financing delays, the system opened the $56 million Central Harnett Hospital in Lillington in January 2013. The 50-bed hospital was expected to add 225 jobs to the county, with an estimated annual payroll of $13.2 million. Harnett Health also operates an assortment of clinics and rehab centers in Dunn, Benson, Angier, Coats and Lillington. Administrators at WakeMed could not be reached Saturday for comment, while inquiries left for Harnett Health trustees were not immediately returned. Ricky Marositz started work at Harnett Health on the same day in November 2005 that Bryan became its CEO. An orderly in the operating room at Betsy Johnson, Marositz was laid off in April. Some of his surgical colleagues were among those cut Friday, he said, and those who remain are worried. "It seems like everybody is afraid for their jobs," Marositz said. "They won't tell them anything. It sounds like it's becoming a hostile takeover." Marositz said Bryan constantly reassured staff the system was in good shape while instead it was sliding into financial trouble. "The hospital's in such bad shape, it's hard to know who'd want to take it on," said Marositz, who has since retrained himself as a truck driver. "Central Harnett Hospital has killed Harnett Health. It was a hospital they couldn't afford to build and a hospital they couldn't afford to sustain." Hospitals nationwide have struggled to cope with lower Medicaid reimbursement rates and Medicare cuts that are part of the Affordable Care Act. State legislators declined the expansion of Medicaid that would have offset the losses. Cape Fear Valley eliminated 118 jobs in September 2013, 19 of which were filled at the time. "Health care has suffered a tremendous blow when it comes to funding in the last few years," Council said. "The Medicaid issue is costing a lot of hospitals a lot of money." Staff writer Gregory Phillips can be reached at [email protected] or 486-3596. ___ (c)2014 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at www.fayobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |