SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - San Diego’s Scripps Health has revealed in a report that there will be layoffs in the new year.
The $2.9 billion dollar private hospital group with 15,000 employees has confirmed with the U-T that job cuts are coming and that the annual budget was missed by $20 million, so restructuring is necessary to stay competitive.
In a statement to 10 News, Scripps Health President and CEO Chris Van Gorder indicated layoffs would happen at an administrative and leadership level.
Read the full statement below:
“Healthcare is changing rapidly with huge growth in ambulatory care and reduced utilization of inpatient hospitals --- and given the elimination of the individual mandate under the ACA, the uninsured will once again be growing nationally. It’s important that healthcare organizations proactively change to address these changes and Scripps is doing so with a major restructuring of our organization to (1) reduce costs for our patients; (2) increase the quality of our services even though they are already strong, and; (3) improve our patient experience in both our hospitals and our many ambulatory sites of care. Our organization remains strong financially as we prepare to spend more than $2.6 Billion to improve our facilities and comply with the State Seismic Safety Act – SB 1953 – but changes will be required to maintain that strength and, at the same time, find a way to lower our costs for our patients now and in the future. The changes we are making now will involve our leadership and administrative services. We are still hiring patient care givers.”
San Diego patient safety advocate Marian Hollingsworth tells 10 News, “This seems to be an indication of just how much big business has gotten into healthcare. We want to make sure that in the rush to make sure that [Scripps Health] has a good bottom line financially, that the bottom line doesn't affect patient care.”
