Milwaukee’s Columbia St. Mary’s hospitals will eliminate 54 positions over the next three months within its Patient Financial Services division.

This is the second round of layoffs for the Milwaukee system, which laid off 74 employees in November as part of a systemwide initiative to reduce costs in the economic meltdown.

The Patient Financial Services division, which was alerted last week of the layoffs, is responsible for billing, insurance verification and financial transactions.

The services will continue to be provided through Accretive Health, a firm Columbia St. Mary’s has contracted with to co-manage its revenue cycle operations.

No nursing or clinical staff will be affected.

The system’s Milwaukee hospitals lost $5.7 million last year, which is significantly higher than the $379,280 loss posted in 2006.