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12 CFO / FINANCE Bankrupt California health system lays off 920 employees By Ayla Ellison M ore than 900 workers lost their jobs when Verity Health, a nonprofit system based in El Segundo, Calif., closed one of its hospitals in January. In August 2018, Verity and 16 of its affiliates entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy. About five months later, the health system agreed to sell four hospitals, including St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, to KPC Group's Stra- tegic Global Management. However, the deal fell through and Verity shut down 366-bed St. Vincent in late January. In documents filed with the California Em- ployment Development Department, Verity cited SGM's failure to meet the court-ap- pointed closing deadline as the reason for closing St. Vincent. "Given SGM's failure to close the sale trans- action, and there being no feasible alternative for continued operations, the debtors made the difficult decision to close St. Vincent," read the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act report filed by Verity. Verity said 920 employees were laid off as a result of the closure. e employees were laid off between Jan. 14 and Jan. 27, according to the WARN report. e closure of St. Vincent does not affect Verity's other three hospitals in California: St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, Seton Medical Center in Daly City, and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach. In a Jan. 8 release, SGM disputed Verity's claims regarding the closure of St. Vincent. "Verity falsely ascribes its decision to an al- leged default by Strategic Global Manage- ment … on its contract to purchase St. Vin- cent as well as St. Francis Medical Center, Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside," stated the release. SGM claims it raised concerns about Veri- ty's compliance with the purchase agreement last fall, including concerns about safety and health issues at St. Vincent. "SGM remains interested in resolving its dif- ferences with Verity and closing the purchase transaction," an SGM spokesperson said in the release. "However, Verity has refused to meet with SGM. While SGM is hopeful Ver- ity will reconsider its position, SGM will vig- orously defend itself from Verity's claims and at the appropriate time, bring its own claims against Verity for its wrongful conduct." n Adventist Health cuts 651 California jobs amid outsourcing push By Alia Paavola R oseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health is cutting 651 jobs at 13 locations across the state, accord- ing to the Sacramento Business Journal. The job cuts are a result of the system closing several of its in-house services. At the time of publication, the cuts were expected to take effect March 7. Adventist is outsourcing its security services to Al- lied Universal, environmental services to Sodexo and Crothall Healthcare and its facility services to real estate firm JLL. Judy Leach, a spokesperson for Adventist, told the Busi- ness Journal that the outsourcing "will make operations more efficient and will position us to better serve our patients and make care more affordable." The outsourcing partners have offered jobs to the affect- ed employees. It is unclear how many of those employ- ees accepted the jobs. The February outsourcing announcement comes about four months after Adventist Health moved its revenue cy- cle operations to Huron Consulting Group. n S P E C I A L G U E S T K E Y N O T E S John Bolton National Security Advisor (2018- 2019); U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2005-2006); Senior Adviser, Rhone Group Howard Dean MD, Former Chairman, Democratic National Committee and Former Governor of Vermont Nikki Haley Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. (2017-2019) John C. Goodman President, Goodman Institute for Public Polic y Research Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Legend, Successful Entrepreneur and Author, The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring Shaquille O'Neal 4x NBA Champion, Co-Host of TNT's "Inside the NBA" Sarah Kliff Investigative Repor ter, The New York Times BECKER'S HOSPITAL REVIEW 6TH ANNUAL HEALTH IT + REVENUE CYCLE CONFERENCE October 13-16, 2020 | Navy Pier, Chicago REGISTER NOW! bit.ly/3bj3lnH | registration@beckershealthcare.com | 800.417.2035