Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital facing staff cuts

A $25 million reduction in government funding to pay for the poor and uninsured is forcing Grady Memorial Hospital to look at cuts, including layoffs, though doctors and nurses won't be among them, hospital officials said. Labor accounts for roughly 50% of total costs, CEO Michael Young said. Among other things, Grady will look to boost revenue by a couple of million dollars and make about $10 million in cuts, Young said. "There isn't much fat left," he said. "This is going to put us into cutting a little meat, cutting a little bone." Grady will receive around $63 million from the state Indigent Care Trust Fund this year, down from $88 million in 2010, hospital spokesman Matt Gove said. Part of the staffing cuts will likely include temporary and contract workers who were brought in to set up the hospital's new electronic medical record system, Young said. He added that any layoffs will likely happen over the next several weeks.