Becker's Hospital Review

14 CFO / FINANCE 10 hospitals laying off workers By Ayla Ellison Several hospitals and health systems are trimming their workforces due to financial and operational challenges. 1. Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson, Iowa, is closing its long-term care department by Sept. 28. e hospital will lay off 58 employees when it closes the department, according to a notice filed with state regulators. 2. Trinity Health announced July 11 it will close its West Springfield, Mass.-based Trinity Health at Home home healthcare and hospice agency, laying off 60 workers in the process. e layoffs are effective Sept. 5. 3. Citing skyrocketing expenses and flat revenue, St. Charles Health System in Bend, Ore., will cut 181 positions, according to a May 18 announcement. e workforce reduction includes laying off 105 caregivers and eliminating 76 vacant positions. e layoffs affect mainly nonclinical workers, including many leadership positions. In mid-July, the health system laid off two executives. 4. Penn Highlands Connellsville (Pa.) Hospital will lay off 27 employees and eliminate 20 additional jobs through retirement and attrition, e Daily Courier reported July 14. 5. Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic is closing Mercy Senior Health Center in Philadelphia in September and laying off 14 workers. e center opened in 2020. 6. Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center in Ogdensburg, N.Y., is cutting approximately 5 percent of its 800-person workforce as it makes changes aimed at improving revenue cycle functions. e hospital said in late June that it is planning to outsource revenue cycle functions and lay off revenue cycle staff. 7. Columbus-based OhioHealth is eliminating 637 jobs. e move is part of a plan to contract out some services the system now provides in house. OhioHealth will eliminate information technology and revenue cycle management positions. e health system informed workers of the cuts July 7. 8. Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica is laying off an unspecified number of nonclinical employees, the Toledo Blade reported July 5. A ProMedica spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review the layoffs represent less than 1 percent of the health system's workforce and are "primarily related to pilots and processes outside of our core business as well as certain corporate services." 9. Bristol (Conn.) Health on June 16 eliminated 31 positions, including 10 that were filled and 21 that were vacant. e majority of those laid off were in management. 10. Santa Cruz Valley Hospital in Green Valley, Ariz., closed June 30. e closure resulted in 315 workers losing their jobs. e hospital issued a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice June 20, which gave the hospital's 315 workers notice of the mass layoff. n ChristianaCare, Prospect Medical Holdings cancel 4-hospital deal By Ayla Ellison C hristianaCare signed a letter of intent in February to acquire Crozer Health from Prospect Medical Holdings. The health systems announced Aug. 18 that the deal will not move forward. Wilmington, Del.-based ChristianaCare and Los Angeles- based Prospect Medical Holdings said significant changes in the economic landscape since the letter of intent was signed in February impacted the ability of the deal to move forward. "Both organizations worked very hard to reach a final agreement and have significant respect for each other, and remain committed to caring for the health of those in Delaware County," ChristianaCare and Prospect Medical Holdings said in a joint news release. Springfield, Pa.-based Crozer Health includes four hospitals and was acquired by Prospect Medical Holdings in 2016. n Employers push back on hospital prices By Nathan Tucker U .S. employers are carefully analyzing price data to ensure they get the best health insurance prices for their employees; this is causing tension with some hospitals, according to an Aug. 2 report from Bloomberg Law. According to data from CMS, in 2020, hospital spending in the U.S. made up $1.3 trillion, and employers paid nearly $409 billion of that spent by private insurers. Data shows that employers pay hospitals significantly more than Medicare, which results in employers pushing back to mitigate price increases. Now, employer health plans and insurers must make their negotiated prices public, which adds new pressure to get the best price. Marilyn Bartlett, a senior policy fellow with the National Academy for State Health Policy, said employers quickly pick up on the discrepancies. "The more transparency we get out there, the more this pushback's going to come," Ms. Bartlett said. n

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