Mass General Brigham layoffs to affect hundreds of workers in Massachusetts
BOSTON - Mass General Brigham, the largest health care system in Massachusetts, announced layoffs Monday that will affect hundreds of workers, citing a $250 million projected budget gap.
The layoffs will be "focused on non-clinical and non-patient facing roles," CEO Dr. Anne Klibanski said in an email to employees. She said the "elimination, consolidation or rescoping of a number of management and administrative positions" will be complete in March.
Mass General Brigham layoffs
Mass General Brigham employs more than 82,000 people in the state. The company says it is giving "market competitive severance packages and benefits coverage" to affected employees.
"Like healthcare systems everywhere, we face unrelenting pressure that threatens our ability to continue to provide the care, innovation and service that define us," Klibanski wrote. "If we do not take definitive action now to stabilize our financial health, we compromise our ability to continue to invest in our mission."
"It is going to ripple down"
The news sent shockwaves up and down the ranks at the state's largest employer. Paula Ward, an ICU nurse at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, said she got an email on Monday morning.
"You see buildings going up and the money is coming from somewhere and it just it's very surprising and certainly the patient load has not slowed down, if anything, with the closing of Nashoba and Carney, they have absorbed a lot of that," Ward said.
She says employees are bracing for increased workloads as it's unclear exactly where the layoffs will stop.
"No matter who you take out it is going to affect everybody. It is going to ripple down to us," Ward said.
Challenges facing Mass General Brigham
Some of the pressures cited by the the company include inflation, operational inefficiencies and a capacity crisis. Last year, Massachusetts General Hospital announced it was adding 94 beds as some patients are left waiting for days in the Emergency Department for a hospital bed. In recent years the health care system has also expanded its "Home Hospital" program that sends nurses and other caregivers to a patient's house and is actually cheaper than inpatient care.
"Providing unparalleled access to the highest-quality care and groundbreaking treatments demands critical investment and will require us to manage our operations and financial health with the same precision and innovation that we apply to patient care, research, and education," Mass General Brigham said in a statement. "The steps we are taking now to evolve our organization will play a critical role in ensuring that Mass General Brigham continues to lead, innovate, and transform the future of healthcare for the benefit of everyone."
Mass General Brigham consists of several hospitals around the state, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital, Mass Eye and Ear, McLean Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation.
