St. Charles leaders are warning of more layoffs. The hospital is facing a $9-million budget shortfall. St Charles Health System CEO Jim Diegel says they laid off three workers last week. “So we're kind of going through a period that's not very fun. But it's necessary to adapt to changing market conditions. People ask me: are there going to be layoffs? Yes. Do we know how many ? No. We hope to have a better sense in the next sixty days. But to say we're not going to have layoffs would be misleading.” Diegel says the decrease of those with commercial health insurance and their better reimbursement rates and the increase of those on the Oregon Health Plan, with poor reimbursements, are creating the funding gap. St. Charles has a hiring freeze in place and plans to bring in a consultant to assess the hospital's staffing needs.