Declining reimbursements and fewer patients fuel layoffs at Beacon Health System

Beacon Health System in South Bend, Ind., laid off 70 employees this week, according to a South Bend Tribune report.

Here are six things to know about the layoffs.

1. The layoffs represent about 1 percent of Beacon's workforce.

2. Most of the job cuts, about 50 of the positions, both clinical and non-clinical, were in home care. The remaining job cuts were in areas such as laundry services, information technology and marketing, Beacon spokeswoman Maggie Scroope said in the report.

3. The layoffs had little direct impact on care provided at Beacon's Memorial Hospital in South Bend and Elkhart (Ind.) General Hospital, according to Ms. Scroope.

4. Beacon attributes the job cuts to declining reimbursements from Medicare and private insurers, fewer patients seeking care because of higher deductible plans and an increase in patients who can't afford to pay for their care, reports South Bend Tribune.

5. The report also cites a letter to employees announcing the layoffs, in which COO Kreg Gruber noted Beacon's need to cut day-to-day operational spending while continuing to invest in information systems, equipment and buildings.

6. Beacon will try to place qualified workers who were laid off in some of the health system's 325 open clinical positions, according to the report.

 

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