WILKES-BARRE -- Geisinger Health System's plan to lay off 400 employees at its Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre campus will not have an impact on the health care system's facilities in the Danville area.

Geisinger announced Thursday it would be focusing on same-day and short-stay inpatient services at the South Wilkes-Barre campus, eliminating about 400 positions at the hospital by September.

"Hospitals -- and, more importantly, how patients use them -- are changing," said Glenn Steele Jr., Geisinger president and chief executive officer. "Advances in technology allow patients to go home sooner, avoiding overnight hospitals stays unless they are severely ill ... To respond effectively, we must align our resources and establish new models of care that meet these needs."

The number of inpatient beds at the facility will be adjusted to reflect the hospital's patient population, which is about 50 a day, according to spokesman Dave Jolley.

The layoffs will probably happen over a 2-week period in September, Jolley said, and are "across the entire hospital. There's managers, as well as union and non-union employees."

He said Geisinger will offer job fairs and outplacement assistance to these employees, as well as severance packages, which for a number of employees will include their years of service with Mercy Hospital.

Geisinger bought Mercy in 2005 and it became Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre.

Jolley added that there are approximately 140 open positions in the health system within a 20-mile radius of the hospital and laid-off employees will be given first crack at those jobs.

The layoffs will not impact Geisinger Medical Center in Danville or any of its outlying facilities, according to Jolley.

In spite of the trend toward short-term care, there are no plans to cut back on staff at those facilities in the short- or long-term future, he said. "They've really got the model in place (at Woodbine Lane, Geisinger's outpatient surgery center). The room in (Geisinger Medical Center) is for the more serious stuff."

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