Intermountain Healthcare says it will cut 250 office jobs to further its goal of making healthcare more affordable for patients.
To get there, Salt Lake City, Utah-based Intermountain plans to offer voluntary separation packages to about 750 business function employees who are at least 55 years old and have worked for the system for at least 10 consecutive years. Patient care positions won't be affected. The not-for-profit health system employs 41,000 people in Utah, Idaho and Nevada.
"Healthcare consumers want more affordable, accessible, streamlined and transparent care, requiring healthcare professionals to work in aligned and coordinated ways," the health system said in a statement. "This initiative reflects significant changes that are occurring locally and nationally in healthcare."
The packages will vary by employee, but will include additional pay and benefits. Employees will have two weeks to decide whether to accept the agreements. If Intermountain doesn't reach its 250-job goal through the voluntary measure, the system said it will resort to involuntary reductions.
Intermountain is also carefully evaluating whether or not to fill positions vacated by employees who leave voluntarily. So far, 50 open positions in centralized business functions will not be filled, the system said.
Although Intermountain did not cite the COVID-19 pandemic, other health systems have announced job cuts and furloughs in recent months due to the ongoing crisis. Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University, which includes Jefferson Health, will cut up to 600 jobs through attrition because of COVID-related losses. Beaumont Health in Southfield, Mich. said in April it would temporarily lay off 2,475 employees and cut 450 positions because of the pandemic.
