Providence Seaside Hospital posted a $5 million operating loss in 2020.

Providence Health & Services in Oregon is reducing the hours of nonclinical and other employees after significant financial losses related to the coronavirus.

Providence is targeting a 30% reduction in the hours of nonclinical workers starting Sunday through July, based on patient volume. Other departments will adjust staffing to patient volume. Core leaders will take one week of unpaid furloughs. Affected workers can apply for unemployment, but their medical benefits will continue.

Gary Walker, a spokesman for Providence, said managers are just starting to come up with their planned reductions. Most workers in Clatsop County are directly related to patient care and will not face furloughs, he said.

Providence is holding off on filling vacancies in nonclinical jobs and suspending travel and other expenses. Through the end of the year, executives are taking pay cuts of between 5% and 50%.

Gov. Kate Brown halted nonemergency procedures at hospitals in Oregon in mid-March to save capacity and protective equipment for a possible surge in coronavirus patients.

Neither Providence Seaside Hospital nor Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria have experienced a surge in patients. The governor allowed nonemergency procedures to resume this month, provided hospitals could prove they had adequate capacity and protective equipment.

But the restrictions over the past two months have led to low patient volumes and a hemorrhaging of revenue. Becky Hultberg, the CEO of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, said some rural hospitals were losing as much as 60% of revenue a month.

“Staffing is one of the hospital’s most significant costs,” she said in April. “So as revenue declines, some hospitals have been forced to furlough or lay off staff.”

Columbia Memorial Hospital laid off around 90 employees — 12% of its workforce — shortly after the governor’s order. Providence, which employs more than 400 in the county and nearly 23,000 statewide, has so far not reported any coronavirus-related layoffs at the Seaside hospital.

Lisa Vance, CEO of Providence in Oregon, said in a news release that the hospital group is making the cut in hours to focus on its core mission.

“We are planning for a new normal to ensure financial stability in the months ahead,” she said. “We are doing all we can to ensure the highest safety precautions are in place for all of our services as we reach out to patients to ensure they do not delay needed care.”