Thousands of employees at Health Management Associates hospitals in Venice, Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte can’t accrue vacation time through October 1st. HMA officials say it’s a cost-saving measure they say they’ve been forced to take due to Medicare funding cuts. A Venice Regional medical Center employee tells the Herald-Tribune normally they earn one or more vacation days for every month’s work. They say accrual ban amounts to losing a week’s vacation for employees with at least 5-years on the job. HMA administrators claim the vacation accrual ban is better than the alternative, which is cutting jobs.
