Fifty-two workers at Chicago-based Louis A. Weiss Memorial Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Ill., have lost their jobs, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The layoffs, which took effect March 6, affected 32 employees at West Suburban and 20 at Weiss. Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health, a privately held hospital ownership and management company, owns both hospitals.
Administrative employees in secretarial, clerical, marketing and other roles lost their jobs, according to the Tribune. Pipeline spokesperson Matt Lehner told the newspaper nurses and physicians were not affected.
Mr. Lehner cited lack of state funding for the layoffs.
"These reductions were necessitated by the state being months behind in paying the $15 million in Medicaid funding owed to the Weiss and West Suburban Hospitals," he said in a news release. "The state's failure to pay hospitals serving large volumes of Medicaid patients on a timely and adequate basis is severely straining our hospitals at exactly the time we need their support most."
State politicians denounced Pipeline's decision to lay off employees amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, and some are urging Pipeline to rehire them, the Tribune reported.
Democrat state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, acknowledged that Illinois owes Pipeline money, and she said other politicians are scheduling meetings with hospital management.
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