Wheaton: City Is Confident In CRMC’s Decision

Cookeville Mayor and Hospital Board Member Laurin Wheaton says the city has confidence in the Cookeville Regional Medical Center.

That, after CRMC announced the elimination of six upper management positions due to financial constraints Wednesday afternoon. The six positions include four administrative directors, a hospital director, and the hospital’s Chief Strategy Officer.

Wheaton said when more money is going out than the hospital is taking in, unfortunately sometimes drastic measures have to be taken.

“We know that they are being proactive because they know that this is a problem the hospital is probably going to continue to face for a little bit until everyone gets back on their feet,” Wheaton said. “And so to make sure that (CEO Paul Korth) is not having to cut any clinical positions, and by taking essentially administrative roles that don’t have any clinical components to them, we are able to continue to run the hospital efficiently and effectively.”

While it may seem like this happened abruptly, Wheaton said she does not believe this is the case. She said in financial reports there appeared to be problem areas to take note of where the expenses were greater than the money coming in. Though the administration kept watch of the trends, Wheaton said at some point it had to act.

Wheaton said as a nurse, she understands and has seen first hand the long shifts and the difficulty finding staff. Wheaton said Cookeville Regional is not the only hospital facing these kinds of issues.

“Hospitals are still treating very sick patients and without those funds, everyone is getting hit hard,” Wheaton said. “And I think they looked at it said before we have to go and start cutting nurses, doctors, lines of service where can we make a big impact on the budget with the least amount of impact to patient care, and I think this was it.”

Wheaton said she does not want the community to worry, and that they still will receive good care.