Wyoming Medical Center lays off 58 workers

Morgan Haefner -

Wyoming Medical Center in Casper laid off 58 workers Tuesday, according to the Star-Tribune.

WMC will leave an additional 57 positions unfilled and reduce the hours of 11 employees between four and 12 hours a week. Thirty hospital departments were affected, including finance, radiology, quality management and central sterilization, according to the Star-Tribune.

Among the layoffs, vacancies and cuts, WMC lost 9 percent of its workforce, though no bedside nurses were let go.

Those laid off were given 30 days of pay and benefits, as well as an additional 30 days of pay and benefits and counseling and career services, if they complied with a severance agreement, according to the Star-Tribune.

WMN's CEO Vickie Diamond said the layoffs are projected to save the hospital $7.2 million.

High unemployment, a downturn in Casper's economy, a decrease in patients with private insurance, increased competition from Casper's two private hospitals and a sluggish energy sector all affected the layoffs.

WMC's CFO Yvonne Wiginton said if the legislature expanded Medicaid, the layoffs would not have been so astringent, according to the Star-Tribune. Rather, $2 million dollars could have been added WMC's bottom line. The Wyoming legislature denied Medicaid expansion in the state for the past four years.

 

WMC is still one of Casper's largest employers.

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