Mercy Regional Medical Center is one of several hospitals in the Centura Health network to eliminate positions in recent months.

Mercy eliminated less than half of 1 percent of its more than 1,300 employees as part of the changes, spokesman David Bruzzese said in an email to The Durango Herald. A half of 1 percent of 1,300 is about six positions.

“We are reducing the management layers between our leaders and frontline caregivers,” said Sarah Silvernail, another employee speaking on behalf of Mercy.

Mercy declined to name what positions were cut and whether more staff reductions are expected.

As part of the changes, four nurse managers will oversee the intensive care unit, the transitional care unit, the orthopedic unit and the medical surgical unit. They will report to one director, she said.

Two directors previously oversaw the four units.

A position in the hospital’s diabetes education program was also consolidated, Silvernail said.

The remaining positions eliminated were in other operational areas of the hospital.

The changes are part of Mercy Regional Medical Center’s and Centura Health’s larger initiative to improve organizational efficiency, Bruzzese said.

Mercy continues to hire and has more than 40 open positions, according to its website.

Centura Health network includes 17 hospitals in Colorado and Kansas.

At a Centura Health hospital in Pueblo, St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center, 272 employees, or about 34 percent of the hospital’s workforce, was laid off last year, The Denver Post reported.

Centura Health’s Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver announced it would layoff 50 employees in November, according to the Denver Business Journal.

Longmont United Hospital announced it would cut 4 percent of its 800 employees in April, according to the Longmont Daily Times-Call.

mshinn@durangoherald.com