Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth has laid off 50 people and created 15 new positions as it streamlines its “support services structure,” the non-profit hospital system said Thursday in response to questions from The Lund Report.
PeaceHealth, with hospitals in Oregon, Washington and Alaska, said the cuts were “across multiple locations.” An individual familiar with the cuts told The Lund Report the reductions were in operations and in technology support. About 20 of the cuts were in computer applications and technology support at the Vancouver shared services center and elsewhere, according to a PeaceHealth memo to staff reviewed by The Lund Report.
“The rationale behind this decision is as follows: The (technology) teams were built with a focus on the implementation of new applications and operations to support the organization’s business goals. Today, our focus shifts to leveraging these IT investments, which requires different skills and staffing models. With improved technology and caregiver fluency, our intention is to provide exceptional customer service in operationally efficient ways,” the memo said.
The trims follow PeaceHealth’s cut of 50 tech-related jobs in July. At that time, PeaceHealth said it had made progress centralizing and consolidating tech work at its Vancouver center.
The cuts outlined Thursday are relatively small compared with PeaceHealth’s overall workforce, which stood at 18,750 people as of June 2018, the figure listed on PeaceHealth’s latest financial filing to the Internal Revenue Service. PeaceHealth’s audit for the fiscal year ending June 2018 said the system earned a profit of $197 million on revenues of $2.6 billion. In the previous fiscal year, the profit was $318 million on revenue of $2.5 billion.
The system has 10 hospitals and an expansive network of clinics. On its website, PeaceHealth’s human resources department shows 56 job openings at locations throughout the system.
Reach Christian Wihtol at [email protected].
