HAMILTON — Fort Hamilton Hospital this week cut a small number of licensed practical nurse positions, an entry level nursing job, to reduce expenses, said its parent health system Kettering Health Network.

Local leaders of the city’s largest private employer were not available for comment Friday, Kettering Health said. It could not give the exact number of positions cut.

Some of those affected have transitioned to other positions with the hospital, said Kettering Health spokeswoman Elizabeth Long. Others have been given severance pay. Long said the health system is working with the nurses to find them other positions with the hospital or within the health network.

“They’re making necessary adjustments to reduce unnecessary expense,” Long said. “The fact is we’re not getting reimbursed as much by Medicare and Medicaid.”

An updated employee count was not available. At the end of last year, Fort Hamilton had 1,029 employees, according to numbers the organization provided the JournalNews in April. The hospital also told the newspaper earlier this year it employs 350 to 400 nurses.

Fort Hamilton is the city’s third largest employer behind Butler County government, with 1,750 employees, and Hamilton City School District, with 1,095 employees, according to the city’s Web site. The city is the fourth largest employer of 680 people.

Kettering Health currently has about 300 open jobs, according to its Web site. A job fair is being held Tuesday at Austin Landing in Miamisburg for registered nurses.

Kettering Health said it’s looking for RNs with at least one year of RN experience to work at one of its eight hospitals. It is especially looking for nurses in trauma, critical care, neurology, emergency, home care and other specialized areas.

Fort Hamilton became part of Dayton-based Kettering Health in July, 2010. After Jennifer Swenson became president of the hospital at the end of 2010, the hospital was put on a financial improvement plan.

Area hospitals say some of the hardest jobs they have filling are more experienced nurses, such as Registered Nurses and nurses in specialty areas that require more experience and education.

The vacancy rate in the region at the end of 2011 for LPNs was 23 jobs, or four percent, according to Greater Cincinnati Health Council. Fewer open positions were available last year at hospitals in the Cincinnati region than the year before. In 2010, the vacancy rate was six percent.

Almost 550 full- and part-time LPNs work at more than 20 hospitals in the area, according to the health council.

The industry is pushing for entry-level nursing positions to have bachelor’s degrees, said Mary Duffey, executive director of the health council’s Health Care Workforce Center.

“There is a trend in health care, the hospital side mostly, to go not only towards not only RNs, but nurses with a bachelor’s degree,” Duffey said. “Nurses need to be prepared for what’s coming up. Health care is transforming and we need to have nurses prepared for their role and that role is changing.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.