About 30 people are out of a job at University Hospital, which is shelving a unit it no longer needs as it searches for more efficiency, a hospital spokeswoman said today.

The 8th floor South unit was a cardiac unit that was kept open after the hospital started moving most of those patients to its new Heart & Vascular Institute in January, spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said.

But in light of declining revenues, “we’re looking at all services and seeing where we can work as efficiently as possible,” spokeswoman Rebecca Sylvester said.

The hospital has been hurt by a slight drop in volume that has resulted in a much larger drop in revenue in particular areas, she said. For instance, many patients who would have been admitted to the hospital as inpatients are instead going to 23-hour observation, which pays much less, she said. It is also a sign of the times.

“The economy has hit us over the past year much harder than we thought it would," she said.

The affected employees have known for a while that the change was coming, Ms. Sylvester said.

“(They) got a two-month notice,” she said. The hospital tried to find other positions within the organization, but in the end about 30 were affected, she said. There are no plans for across-the-board layoffs, however, Ms. Sylvester said.

Reach Tom Corwin at (706) 823-3213 or tom.corwin@augustachronicle.com