Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke, Mass., will eliminate some full and part-time positions.
Officials at the 104-bed psychiatric facility made the announcement July 13, attributing the move to various operational challenges, including aging infrastructure, increasing capital costs to stay in regulatory compliance; reimbursement levels that are not enough to cover care expenses; declining patient volumes in certain services; and workforce shortages.
The hospital will eliminate various union and nonunion positions at the hospital, including direct care staff and supervisors and managers. Hospital officials did not specify the number of job cuts or where they will occur. However, they said they have made efforts to reduce partial hours or eliminate open or unfilled positions, rather than lay off workers, when appropriate.
The hospital said it would provide support to affected employees and expected most affected colleagues to find appropriate job placement.
"We deeply regret that this reduction of positions is necessary. The decision to implement a restructuring and redesign of the care model and reduce staff at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital was extremely difficult to make," said Amy Ashford, director of marketing and communications at Mercy Medical Center and its affiliates. "However, this workforce reduction will allow us to steward our resources, 'right size' our staff to our current state and allow us to continue providing outstanding behavioral health services to the local community."
No services have been cut in the restructuring. Hospital officials said the facility will still provide inpatient psychiatric care to children, adolescents and adults, along with inpatient and outpatient substance use disorder treatment.
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