Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System is furloughing 3% of its workforce to help hit its financial turnaround goals.
Affected positions are mostly in non-patient-seeing departments, including leadership roles. The furloughs are a result of "a comprehensive review of our service and labor resources, which account for more than 50% of the health system's total operating costs," Marshfield said in a Jan. 15 email to employees, according to WAOW.
Marshfield is an 11-hospital system serving Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula with more than 12,000 employees, including over 1,600 providers. Furloughing 3% of its workforce equates to about 360 employees.
The news comes less than two weeks after Marshfield and Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health called off their proposed plan to merge into a 25-hospital system.
"Providing healthcare in our rural geography comes with challenges and it's imperative we think differently. Managing rising supply and labor costs are key to continuing to meet the needs of our patients across the region," Marshfield said in a statement shared with Becker's. "Our health system spans more than 45,000 square miles, and we're the leading care provider in many of the communities we serve. That makes it vital that we use our staffing resources as efficiently and effectively as possible to make sure resources are used where they are needed most and where they can have the greatest impact on patients."
Marshfiield said it is committed to supporting employees during this challenging period and working collaboratively during their transition to furlough.