UC San Diego Health has eliminated about 230 managerial, administrative and patient care positions — less than 2% of its 14,000-person workforce — across the health system, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported June 23.
In a June 23 memo sent to employees, UC San Diego Health CEO Patricia Maysent said “the decision was made in response to mounting financial pressures” resulting from federal changes affecting healthcare, regulatory instability and escalating care delivery costs, all compounded by Medicare, Medicaid and commercial reimbursement rates that fail to cover “the true cost of care.”
“We tried to get as much improvement out of not filling positions and [not hiring] contract labor as we possibly could,” Ms. Maysent said, according to the Union-Tribune. “You try to pull as many of those levers first so you can minimize the impact to actual people in jobs.”
The layoffs come amid a national trend of health systems tightening operations as federal budget discussions raise the prospect of cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and the ACA.
UC San Diego Health is operating in the black, reporting a 4.1% operating margin for the first nine months of the fiscal year, but Ms. Maysent emphasized the need for long-term financial sustainability.
“Every single year we have had to figure out where we’re going to come up with about $150 million in order to match inflation,” she told the publication. “You can get those improvements through better payer contracts and through growth, which has always been our magic because, as long as we’re growing, it’s easier to cover that gap.”
Becker’s has reached out to UC San Diego Health for comment and will update this story as more information becomes available.
