TACOMA, Wash. — Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, one of the region’s major hospital systems, has announced plans to lay off over 100 employees as part of a significant restructuring initiative.
According to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN), 116 employees from the Virtual Health Services division will lose their jobs starting in July.
Chad Melton, the Interim President of the Puget Sound Market of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, indicated that around 200 employees across the organization will be affected by these changes.
In his statement, Melton mentioned, “To protect access to care long term, we are realigning resources and improving operational efficiency. This includes transitioning several virtual services and administrative functions.”
He highlighted that, like many healthcare systems across the United States, Virginia Mason Franciscan Health is grappling with considerable financial pressures.
These pressures stem from rising labor and supply costs, increasing claim denials, and chronic underpayment from government programs.
The situation has become more challenging in Washington state, where new budget measures introduce taxes that negatively impact hospitals and alter reimbursement structures, particularly capping payments for services rendered to state and school employees.
Melton stated that these recent changes are anticipated to cost the hospital system an additional $30 million each year, which exacerbates their situations.
An employee impacted by the layoffs, Megan Frasier, expressed her devastation upon learning that she will be among those losing their job.
Frasier, who works as a Cardiac Monitor Tech, relayed her feelings in a conversation with KING 5 news, saying, “A lot of my coworkers and I are still processing it; we are devastated obviously.”
She and her team are responsible for watching the heart rhythms of patients at local hospitals to track any cardiac-related incidents that could affect overall health and safety.
“My team and I work hard to provide the best care possible. It’s disheartening to think our services will be outsourced to a different region,” Frasier outlined, emphasizing her love for helping people through her work.
Frasier explained that many local community dynamics are difficult to replicate in different locations, especially when outsourcing workforce responsibilities.
Additionally, Frasier is a member of UFCW 3000 union, which has stated that Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has made plans to lay off all telemetry techs, affecting over 50 union workers.
One union spokesperson expressed, “These layoffs create a tremendous amount of uncertainty for us, other healthcare workers in the region, and the patients who rely on our services.”
The union aims to address these layoffs in upcoming negotiations, hoping to assist affected employees in finding other roles within the healthcare system.
Frasier mentioned that her team has been informed the layoffs would occur sometime between November and February, raising concerns about future patient monitoring.
She stated, “We are still here, and we will continue to provide the best patient care we can, obviously. But there’s definitely concern going forward about what that looks like and who is going to watch over our community and our patients.”
Industry experts are predicting that hospital layoffs could continue across Washington state.
Cassie Sauer, CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association, warned, “Hospital finances are in really bad shape, and they’re getting worse. We may see cuts in services, closures of entire programs, and potentially even local hospital closures.”
Sauer attributed financial struggles to state funding cuts, newly implemented taxes, and potential federal funding reductions.
She pointed out that hospitals cannot absorb these financial burdens without making significant cuts, stating, “That’s just the bottom line. Washington is a very expensive place to provide healthcare due to high regulations and government rules that are not present in other regions.”
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