CHI St. Luke's announces biggest round of layoffs yet
HOUSTON -- St. Luke's Health System said Thursday that it and a sister network in Bryan-College Station had cut their payroll by another 620 employees, the biggest fallout yet from the Colorado-based parent company's continuing financial slide.
The purge, which includes 459 layoffs, has brought the total number of cuts at Catholic Health Initiatives' Texas division since August to 1,295, about 30 percent more than MD Anderson Cancer Center's 1,000-employee workforce reduction in January. In those seven months, St. Luke's has laid off 810 employees, compared to MD Anderson's 788.
"Like other hospital systems in Texas and across the nation, we recently announced we are working to restructure the CHI Texas division to respond to continued changes in the health care environment," St. Luke's said in a statement. "While we have made significant improvements the past few months, we must continue to institute critical organizational changes to further realign our financial performance to sustain and grow our network of care across southeast Texas."
One analyst blamed the hospital chain's rapid growth over the past five years, including its aggressive entrance into Houston, where St. Luke's is considered an iconic institution but a risky venture because of its aging facilities. The chain paid $1 billion to acquire the Texas Medical Center hospital and regional system in 2013.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/CHI-St-Luke-s-announces-biggest-round-of-layoffs-11039272.php
