Orange, Calif.-based UCI Health plans to lay off about 150 workers — about 1% of its workforce — as part of a “strategic restructuring” amid widespread financial pressures, including federal funding cuts and changes to insurance reimbursement.
Affected roles include a mix of administrative, support and operational functions across the health system realign “how work is structured to better support patient and community needs,” a UCI Health spokesperson said in a statement provided to Becker’s.
The health system did not disclose which specific positions are affected.
UCI Health said the realignment will allow it to “sustainably operate at scale,” unify certain functions and redirect resources to other areas of community need, including primary care access, surgical services, specialty care or advanced treatment options.
“We recognize that change impacts all of our co-workers. But this realignment is vital to ensuring our ability to continue meeting the evolving needs of the communities we serve,” President and CEO Chad Lefteris said in a March 23 news release.
UCI Health is a six-hospital, 1,461-bed academic system serving 5.6 million people across Southern California. It opened its sixth hospital — a 144-bed, all-electric acute care hospital — in December.
In 2024, the system acquired Tenet Healthcare’s Pacific Coast Network — which included four hospitals in Southern California and their associated outpatient locations — for about $975 million. The acquisition added 858 inpatient beds to UCI Health.
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