The layoffs are part of cost-saving measures the health system undertook after an $80 million loss in 2022 and similar loss last year. The positions were all occupied and primarily administrative.
“This has been a proactive measure that we’ve undertaken in order to continue to maintain our independence and to continue to be a community based healthcare system,” Staci Thompson, Bassett, told CBS and NBC affiliate WKTV.
No direct patient-facing roles were affected and there is no plan for additional layoffs, according to Ms. Thompson, who became president and CEO in March.
“We worked with people and tried to handle it in the kindest way possible, realizing that these were difficult decisions and people’s lives were impacted,” Ms. Thompson told the news outlet. “As a leadership team, we agonized over every position that was affected and made sure that what we were doing was really in the best interest of the future and the greater good for the organization.”
The health system’s director of public relations, Gabrielle Argo, told the Daily Sentinel that affected employees are welcome to apply to different jobs within the network.
The organization is anchored by Bassett Medical Center, a 180-bed tertiary-care teaching hospital in Cooperstown. The system also operates a network of community hospitals and outpatient clinics.
Becker’s has reached out to Bassett and will update the report as more information becomes available.
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