Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Lurie Children’s Hospital has laid off a small number of employees, the Chicago hospital confirmed to Crain’s.
Lurie enacted the recent layoffs after reviewing its budget and identifying opportunities to improve operating efficiency, spokeswoman Julianne Bardele said in a statement.
Related: Lurie Children's Hospital sued for cyberattack response
Bardele declined to disclose the exact number of affected workers, only describing the layoffs as a “very small reduction,” and did not answer questions about what kinds of roles were affected or whether laid-off employees were given severance packages.
“Lurie Children's is undertaking a comprehensive review of our budget to ensure we are in the strongest possible position to sustain our mission for many years to come,” Bardele said. “We take seriously the impact these decisions have on the impacted team members and are committed to treating them with respect and compassion. At the same time, we are confident these are the right decisions for our organization’s future as we look to serve children and families even better in our local communities.”
The layoffs come as Lurie battles operating shortfalls, according to financial records filed July 25 with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. In the nine months ended May 31, Lurie reported an operating loss of $85.5 million on $1.3 billion in operating revenue. The loss isn’t new. Lurie posted a $26.3 million operating shortfall on $1.2 billion in operating revenue in the same time period a year ago, according to the filing.
Not a Modern Healthcare subscriber? Sign up today.
However, despite this year's shortfall, investment and other nonoperating income still boosted total income to nearly $35 million in the nine months ended May 31, the filing shows.
Lurie is still dealing with the fallout from a months-long cybersecurity breach earlier this year that affected nearly 800,000 patients. As of July 23, 15 lawsuits were filed against the hospital, according to the filing. Many of them allege Lurie Children’s Hospital officials were negligent in protecting patients’ sensitive medical and financial information and waited too long to disclose patient data was compromised.
Leaked information in the Lurie breach includes names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, health plan and claims information, medical conditions and diagnoses, Social Security numbers and other sensitive information.
Lurie said in the filing that it had not yet responded to the lawsuits but believes it has “meritorious defenses to the allegations.” Full costs associated with the cyberattack and lawsuits are not yet fully known, Lurie said.
Send us a letter
Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.
