It was just reported that St. Francis Hospital in Connecticut would cut 200 from their 3,500 member staff next month. However, it has now come out that these cuts are simply one step in a series of layoffs that will occur throughout hospitals in the state.

Stephen Frayne, senior vice president of health policy at the Connecticut, said, “I think there’s going to be further downsizing, wage freezes and cutting benefits.” He added, “Hospitals are going after ways to reduce their expenses.”

Uwe Reinhardt, a national leader in health care economics at Princeton University says that Connecticut is typical of the current trends. They are mong the 20 percent of hospitals in 2008-09 that were heavily in the black.

“Hospitals have very thin profit margins,” said Reinhardt. “If you cut their revenues by 10 percent then they’re going to have to lay off people. And it’s that part of the equation Americans seem not to grasp. Americans should expect more and more hospitals to go into distress.”