MU Health to reduce staff

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - University of Missouri Health Care will lay off or cut the hours and pay for 35 employees and eliminate 90 unfilled jobs in the coming year.

MU Health Care spokeswoman Mary Jenkins told The Columbia Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/1afGbK0 ) the job losses are due to cuts in federal health care payments from Medicare and the failure of legislators to expand Medicaid eligibility.

She says many of the 90 jobs that will be eliminated have been unfilled for most of the past year.

Hospitals are facing cuts because of federal budget cuts that trimmed 2 percent from Medicare payments. The 2010 Affordable Care Act included more cuts to Medicare and cut a program that provides support to hospitals that care for poorer populations.

MU Health employs 5,200 workers, not including medical staff.