Local consignment shop aims to elevate men’s fashion Business, C-1
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Tuesday, November 5, 2013
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Hospital announces layoffs Bruce Tassin, president and CEO of Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, discusses hospital layoffs at his office Monday. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
58 positions affected by Christus St. Vincent’s move to cut $4M in costs
By Bruce Krasnow The New Mexican
Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center said Monday it is eliminating 58 positions and laying off 36 employees as part of a restructuring to meet the challenges of the federal Affordable Care Act. Hospital administrators said the layoffs will stretch across all departments,
including 15 management positions. Christus St. Vincent President and CEO Bruce Tassin said the reductions will trim $4 million from the Santa Fe hospital’s payroll. The hospital, which still has 1,950 employees, ended the 2012 fiscal year on June 30, 2013, with an operating surplus of $6.3 million, about half of what is expected in an organization the
Marble Brewery gets boot Plaza tap room to close next month; owners looking for new location
size of Christus, which has annual revenue of $330 million. “When you look at the complexity of our organization, this is a very nominal surplus when you have this kind of an operation you’re trying to keep viable,” Tassin said. “When we first started looking at this, we were talking 200 [job cuts].
Please see HOSPITAL, Page A-4
Extra time to choose Thousands with existing insurance plans that don’t comply with the law won’t have to get new policies immediately. PAge A-6
Reluctant to raise taxes City councilors show little support for hike to cover future shortfall. PAge A-6
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH
State restores funds to pair of providers
Presbyterian Medical Services, Youth Development Inc. agree to repay $4.2 million to state By Steve Terrell The New Mexican
People sit outside on the balcony of the Marble Brewery Tap Room on Monday. The tap room is slated to close Dec. 28 after losing its lease on the space in the Santa Fe Arcade, which is owned by Santa Fe businessman Gerald Peters. LUIS SÁNCHEZ SATURNO/THE NEW MEXICAN
By Phaedra Haywood The New Mexican
T
he Marble Brewery Tap Room is being forced to leave its prime position overlooking the Santa Fe Plaza. The owners — who also have a brewery and a tap room in Albuquerque — say they’ve lost their lease on their top-floor space in the Santa Fe Arcade building, 60 E. San Francisco St., and are looking for a new location. Dec. 28 will be the Santa Fe tap room’s last day in its current space. Brewmaster and co-founder Ted Rice said Monday that partners in the Marble Brewery
operation are in discussions with Peter Komis, who owns a balcony-equipped space on the opposite side of block — at 125 E. Water St. — formerly occupied by Catamount Bar and Grille. But Rice said Komis wants more than Marble’s owners were hoping to pay and Rice isn’t sure if they will be able to come to terms. Rice and partner Jeff Ginnette were mum about whether family dynamics played any role in the loss of the lease. The Santa Fe Arcade building — where Marble has been located for the past four years — is owned by Gerald Peters, whose sons Devin Peters and Soren Peters are two of the five partners in the Marble Brewery venture.
Ginnette — who worked for Peters’ Santa Fe Dining group for 17 years before leaving to devote his time to Marble Brewery — said the decision seems to be based on finances. “[Peters’] sons own part of Marble, but he can put a business that he owns all of in there. He has an opportunity to do that, so he’s going to do so,” Ginnette said. “It seems like economics. We’re on the losing end of it. We’re not happy to be leaving. We like that spot, but business is business.” The partners say they think Peters — who owns microbrewery operations including the Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery on Cerrillos Road
Senate advances gay rights bill Legislation to ban discrimination in workplace closer to passage this week
National Theatre Live in HD Macbeth, 7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $22, discounts available, ticketssantafe.org, 988-1234.
By Michael A. Memoli
Index
Calendar A-2
Pasapick www.pasatiempomagazine.com
Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The gay rights movement won at least a preliminary victory Monday as the Senate voted to advance a measure that would ban workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The 61-30 procedural vote does not necessarily predict the final outcome, expected later this week. But statements of support from Republicans ensured that the bill known as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act could attract the necessary 60 votes to overcome any additional procedural hurdles. “This is a momentous day,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa,
Please see MARBLe, Page A-4
Obituaries Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, talks to reporters Monday after the Senate agreed to consider a bill that would prohibit workplace discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
said as floor debate began. A nation that has stood behind the belief that people should be judged on their individual worth, not the color of their skin, race or religion, he said, should also bar discrimination
Classifieds B-5
Comics B-10
Leonardita Elizabeth Romero Casias, 86, Nov. 2 Robert Francis Ford, 78, Nov. 2
based on “who you love.” Even if the Senate passes the legislation, however, it faces uncertain prospects in the Republican-led House.
Opinions A-8
Police notes A-7
Editor: Ray Rivera, 986-3033, rrivera@sfnewmexican.com Design and headlines: Kristina Dunham, kdunham@sfnewmexican.com
Sylvester James “Sy” Vavruska, 102, Nov. 1 PAge A-7
Today Cooler with some showers. High 52, low 24.
Please see RIgHTS, Page A-5
Lotteries A-2
Virginia Leyba, 59, Oct. 31
Two of the dozen-plus New Mexico mental health providers whose Medicaid funding was frozen got their funding restored Monday after agreeing to repay the state $4.2 million for alleged improper billings, the state Human Services Department said. However, no talks are underway with any of the other providers under investigation, a department spokesman said. “No other settlements or negotiations will occur,” spokesman Matt Kennicott said. The two providers involved in Monday’s announcement are Presbyterian Medical Services, which is headquartered in Santa Fe and serves some 3,400 clients on Medicaid statewide, and Youth Development Inc., which operates in Albuquerque and Valencia County, serving about 260 Medicaid clients. PMS will repay $4 million, while YDI will repay $240,000. Kennicott said the settlements represent about 89 percent of alleged overpayments to Presbyterian Medical Services and 81 percent for Youth Development. “PMS and YDI are not among the behavioral health companies with the most serious or numerous whistleblower complaints against them,” a statement from Human Services said. The allegations against the other companies, according to Human Services, were that “employees were told to intentionally up-code services as a means of siphoning extra money out of the Medicaid system, told to bill for services never provided, or told to obstruct the reporting of critical incidents to proper authorities and regulators.” The statement also said the two companies to which funding was restored weren’t heavily involved in “complex financial relationships and potential conflicts of interest” like the other providers under investigation. But, the statement said, restoration of Medicaid funds doesn’t mean the providers have been dropped from the state Attorney General’s Office investigation into allegations raised by an auditor hired by the Human Services Department. Most of the other behavioral health companies whose funding was frozen had to shut down and their caseloads were taken over by Arizona providers under contract with the state. Both Presbyterian Medical Services and Youth Development, however, have remained open and have continued to serve their clients. Kennicott said the two have been operating on reserve funds. The news release said the two providers each “will also be subject to intensive new training and oversight of its management until billing and
Please see FUNDS, Page A-5
PAge A-10
Sports B-1
Time Out B-9
Local Business C-1
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Three sections, 24 pages 164th year, No. 309 Publication No. 596-440