The digital and innovation leaders who recently departed Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health told Charlotte Business Journal the moves were planned and part of a larger restructuring at the health system.
Angela Yochem, executive vice president and chief transformation and digital officer, and Paula Dean Kranz, vice president of innovation enablement and executive director of the Novant Health Innovation Labs, were part of a March 29 round of layoffs at the health system that included about 50 employees.
Ms. Yochem told the news outlet the restructuring will "allow the system to thrive in spite of the headwinds being faced by all healthcare systems right now."
Asked by Becker's whether the layoffs were part of a larger reduction in IT or digital innovation staff or services, a Novant spokesperson said the health system didn't have any more information to share.
"The last few years in healthcare have been increasingly austere, forcing many systems to cut activities that don't directly impact patients," Ms. Kranz told the Business Journal. "But even in those conditions, I was proud to help raise more than $4 million from grants and donors to introduce emerging technologies, transform our business growth and elevate patient outcomes. Ostensibly, we grew grass on concrete."