Baylor medical school plans cost-cutting

Baylor College of Medicine, trying to fix its shaky finances, has begun a cost-cutting initiative that should reduce administrative staffing by about 15 percent, its new leader informed employees Thursday.

In a memorandum to staff, Baylor President Dr. Paul Klotman wrote that the college's vice president for human resources will lead the effort to "right-size" the administration, whose 1,440 employees' salaries and benefits cost the institution $118 million yearly. Klotman said he believes a review will find a "duplication of efforts within and across departments."

"I recognize that there has been a lot of hard work over the last several years to address the college's financial challenges," wrote Klotman, who led a similar effort as chairman of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. "However, there is more work ahead of us to become truly fiscally disciplined."

A Baylor spokeswoman said it is too early to know how many layoffs will result from the process. She said Klotman would not elaborate on the memo.