Boston-based Partners HealthCare is laying off about 100 employees, most of whom are coders, according to The Boston Globe.
Here are four things to know.
1. The layoffs, which will occur over the next year, are a result of Partners outsourcing back-office jobs to India. Coders in India are paid much less than those in the U.S., and outsourcing coding jobs overseas is a way for hospitals and health systems to cut costs, according to the report.
2. "We need to do things to improve productivity in healthcare," Partners President and CEO David Torchiana, MD, told The Boston Globe. "I don’t know of another … sector that doesn't outsource call centers and back-office functions."
3. Like other healthcare providers in Massachusetts, Partners is required by state law to keep its spending growth to 3.1 percent a year.
4. Partners ended the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 with operating income of $114.8 million. That's compared to the first quarter of fiscal year 2017, when the health system posted an operating loss of $17.4 million.
Read The Boston Globe's full article here.
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