Several hospitals and health systems are trimming their workforces due to financial and operational challenges.
1. Columbus-based OhioHealth is eliminating 637 jobs, its biggest layoff ever. The move is part of a plan to contract out some services the system now provides in house. Over the next three to five months, the system will eliminate information technology and revenue cycle management positions. Of those, 567 are in information technology. OhioHealth said the IT work will be handled by the professional services company Accenture, and AGS Health will handle the revenue cycle business. The health system informed workers of the cuts July 7.
2. Trinity Health announced July 11 it will close its West Springfield, Mass.-based Trinity Health at Home home healthcare and hospice agency, laying off 60 workers in the process. The layoffs are effective Sept. 5
3. Santa Cruz Valley Hospital in Green Valley, Ariz., closed June 30. The closure resulted in 315 workers losing their jobs. CEO Steve Harris said the decision to close Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital was made after it was unable to secure emergency department staffing for the Fourth of July weekend. The hospital issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice June 20, which gave the hospital's 315 workers notice of the mass layoff.
4. Penn Highlands Connellsville (Pa.) Hospital will lay off 27 employees and eliminate 20 additional jobs through retirement and attrition, The Daily Courier reported July 14.
5. Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, N.Y., is cutting approximately 5 percent of its 800-person workforce as it makes changes aimed at improving revenue cycle functions. The hospital said in late June that it is planning to outsource revenue cycle functions and lay off revenue cycle staff.
6. Citing skyrocketing expenses and flat revenue, St. Charles Health System in Bend, Ore., will cut 181 positions, according to a May 18 announcement. The workforce reduction includes laying off 105 caregivers and eliminating 76 vacant positions. The layoffs affect mainly nonclinical workers, including many leadership positions. In mid-July, the health system laid off two executives.
7. Bristol (Conn.) Health on June 16 eliminated 31 positions, including 10 that were filled and 21 that were vacant. The majority of those laid off were in management.
8. Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica is laying off an unspecified number of nonclinical employees, the Toledo Blade reported July 5. A ProMedica spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review the layoffs represent less than 1 percent of the health system's workforce and are "primarily related to pilots and processes outside of our core business as well as certain corporate services."