Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health will outsource or retrain 1,700 employees who work in information technology, billing, revenue cycle management and other support services, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The health system said outsourcing the finance and IT jobs and other support services will help it improve efficiencies and focus on reducing costs in noncore business areas.
About two-thirds of the 1,700 employees will be joining third-party RCM, IT, billing or support staff vendors. About 600 to 650 positions will be eliminated.
Baylor Scott & White said that employees whose positions are being eliminated will be invited to participate in retraining programs.
The retraining program would allow the employees to remain employed at the health system and receive the same pay or higher, depending on their role, according to the report. Some of the retraining programs that will be available are learning to become a certified medical assistant or learning a job in patient support services.
"In no case — in no case — is anyone going to miss a paycheck," Baylor Scott & White CEO Jim Hinton, told The Dallas Morning News. "We can afford to make these commitments, and we want to do the right thing for the great employees of Baylor, Scott & White. They've really done everything we've asked and more during this last year."
This is the third time Baylor Scott & White has announced cost-cutting initiatives related to its workforce since the pandemic began. Last May, 930 Baylor Scott & White employees were laid off, and in December the health system said it would lay off employees and outsource 102 corporate finance jobs.
Mr. Hinton said that Baylor Scott & White has 2,000 clinical positions open, and it is investing in a new regional medical school campus and a joint venture to improve care for the underinsured.
"This is a transition to a new business model, a transition to a new way of working," Mr. Hinton told The Dallas Morning News.