Pocono Medical Center in East Stroudsburg, Pa., has cut 55 jobs, or 2 percent of the total workforce, according to a Pocono Record report.
Here are four things to know about the layoffs.
1. The hospital attributed the layoffs to the new realities of the changing healthcare environment, marked by increased demands and declining reimbursement. "While this reduction in force is painful and difficult for all of us, it is necessary so that we might strategically reallocate resources into areas of greater growth and importance for our community," the hospital said, according to the report.
2. Most of the positions cut were management and non-clinical.
3. Thirty-three positions were eliminated through attrition, and 22 positions were restructured or cut.
4. The layoff announcement comes five months after East Stroudsburg-based Pocono Health System — operator of PMC and several local satellite outpatient facilities and Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pa., signed an agreement for a full-asset merger. The merger, which still requires regulatory approval, is expected to take effect in the first half of 2016.