By ANDY HYLAND, The Lawrence Journal-World
Leaders at Kansas University Medical Center have eliminated 80 jobs
as part of an ongoing efficiency review on the Kansas City, Kan.,
campus.
The 80 jobs were staff positions and do not involve tenured faculty.
The efficiency review, called Changing for Excellence, is still ongoing,
and was conducted with the assistance of the Huron Consulting Group. A
similar efficiency review is ongoing at KU’s Lawrence campus.
KUMC employs about 3,900 people.
In a newsletter to the campus community, Barbara Atkinson, executive
vice chancellor at KUMC and the executive dean of the KU School of
Medicine, said the cuts came following budget cuts and employee
performance reviews.
“We are painfully aware that due to severe pressures on the state
budget, our employees have gone without raises for four years,” Atkinson
wrote. “One reason we are asking leaders to make targeted cuts is so
that we can begin to free up resources to correct that.”
The efficiency review at KUMC is also examining the best ways to
re-invest the money saved, a process that could result in new jobs being
created.
On KU’s Lawrence campus, the review so far has resulted in three
layoffs, all in supervisory positions in the university’s facilities
department, said Gavin Young, a KU spokesman. On the Lawrence campus,
the review has called for the merger of the university’s facilities
department with student housing’s facilities operations.
The cuts do not affect KU Hospital, which is operated separately from KU Medical Center.
