Northwestern Medicine is laying off 60 IT staffers after it launched a new health records system in March, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The Chicago-based health system began its transition to Epic nearly three years ago and added hundreds of IT staff to assist with implementation, a Northwestern Medicine spokesperson told the publication.
Now that the EHR is live, Northwestern Medicine conducted a "thorough and thoughtful" review of its future information services needs, and 60 of the workers brought on for the project were told Aug. 6 that their positions would be eliminated Sept. 1. Other staffers were moved "laterally" to new roles, the Tribune reports.
"Every effort was made to minimize the effect of these changes on staff, but unfortunately a small percentage of staff were impacted," the spokesperson told the publication. "We are now assisting the impacted individuals to find new roles in the health system."
Becker's Hospital Review attempted to reach Northwestern Medicine the morning of Aug. 8 to determine how many staffers will remain in the department. The health system hadn't yet returned requests for comment at the time of publication.
Northwestern Medicine encompasses seven hospitals and about 100 medical offices and immediate care centers. It employs nearly 4,000 physicians.