HealthPartners will furlough 2,600 workers in an effort to help offset the financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, the seven-hospital system in Bloomington, Minn., said April 23.
The furloughs, made because the pandemic caused an "immediate and significant decrease in revenue," affect about 10 percent of its workforce. The furloughs will take place in areas where the organization has stopped, slowed or deferred work temporarily.
HealthPartners also will cut overall compensation for salaried employees. HealthPartners CEO Andrea Walsh's compensation will be cut by 40 percent. Other leaders will see salary reductions of 30 percent.
The health system is freezing hiring and eliminating open positions across the organization.
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is creating unprecedented challenges, ones we couldn’t have imagined just a few months ago," Ms. Walsh said in a news release.
HealthPartners joins a growing list of hospitals in the U.S. that have furloughed workers due to the suspension of elective procedures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.