Jackson Health, other hospitals lay off 1,000+ workers

A new wave of layoffs has been hitting hospitals throughout the country, affecting positions ranging from general employees to nurses, as hospitals try to save money to decrease their financial burdens.

One of the hardest hits hospitals is South Florida's Jackson Health System, which announced yesterday that it's laying off more than 1,000 employees to save millions of dollars, reported WSVN.

"This is not about a profit and loss, this is about efficiency," Jackson Health System President and CEO Carlos Migoya said at a press conference. "What we're looking to do at this point is right-sizing the organization, so we have the right number of employees for the kind of volumes that we have."

As of April, Jackson will lay off 920 employees, including general and clinical workers and nurses. It will eliminate 195 positions, amounting to 1,115 jobs lost and a 10 percent staff reduction. The cuts should save the hospital $69 million.

Meanwhile, St. Joseph Health System in California is laying off more than 50 hospital employees in the next two weeks, although CEO Joe Mark wouldn't specify which positions are targeted until all employees are notified, the Times-Standard reported.

Mark said a decline in elective surgeries is the primary trigger for the layoffs. "We've seen a double-digit drop in surgeries in the last six months," he said.

Another 20 hospital employees have faced layoffs since the beginning of the year at Washington state's Sunnyside community hospital, which just let go four nursing assistants because of budget constraints, according to KIMA.

"There are bad days, and then there are horrible days," Sunnyside spokesperson Tom Lathen said. "And for a lot of folks, this is a horrible day."

To learn more:
- read the WSVN article
- check out the Times-Standard article
- see the KIMA article