St. Vincent Charity Medical Center in Cleveland will lay off 978 workers when it ends many services in November, according to a notice filed with state regulators.
The hospital, part of Sisters of Charity Health System, is ending inpatient care and most other services in November. After the transition, the facility will offer outpatient behavioral health, urgent care and primary care.
The health system attributed the changes to several factors, including the rise in demand for outpatient care, declining inpatient volume and shifts in the healthcare industry over the last 10 years that have made it challenging to continue operating St. Vincent Charity Medical Center as an acute care hospital.
The changes will result in 978 employees being laid off on Nov. 15, according to the notice filed with state regulators.
"This extremely difficult decision is being made with deep respect and gratitude for our caregivers, and we regret the direct impact this decision will have on those individuals," reads the layoff notice from the hospital. "Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic, the changing health care landscape, and declining inpatient volumes have led to significant financial challenges that became impossible to overcome."
The layoffs will affect 446 full-time workers, 264 part-time employees and 268 workers who are called into work as needed, a spokesperson for Sisters of Charity Health System told Becker's Hospital Review.
Medical residents at St. Vincent Charity Medical Center have been invited to move to Cleveland-based University Hospitals. Sisters of Charity Health System is also hosting job fairs at the hospital with University Hospitals and other organizations, and the hospital will continue to provide an employee assistance program for support with personal and work-related issues, the spokesperson told Becker's.