At least 17 health systems announced changes to executive ranks and administration teams in 2023.
The changes come as hospitals continue to grapple with financial challenges, leading some organizations to cut jobs and implement other operational adjustments.
The following changes were announced within the last two months and are summarized below, with links to more comprehensive coverage of the changes.
1. Middletown, N.Y.-based Garnet Health laid off 49 employees, including 25 leaders, to offset recent operating losses. The reductions represent 1.13 percent of the organization’s total workforce and $13 million in salaries and benefits.
2. Greensburg, Pa.-based Independence Health System laid off 53 employees and has cut 226 positions — including resignations, retirements and elimination of vacant positions — since January, The Butler Eagle reported June 28. The 226 reductions began at the executive level, with 13 manager positions terminated in March.
3. Coral Gables-based Baptist Health South Florida is offering its executives at the director level and above a “one-time opportunity” to apply for voluntary separation, according to a June 29 Miami Herald report. Decisions on buyout applications will be made during the summer.
4. MultiCare Health System, a 12-hospital organization based in Tacoma, Wash., will lay off 229 employees, or about 1 percent of its 23,000 staff members, including about two dozen leaders, as part of cost-cutting efforts, the health system said June 29. The layoffs primarily affect support departments, such as marketing, IT and finance.
5. Seattle Children’s is eliminating 135 leader roles, citing financial challenges. The management restructuring and reduction affects 1.5 percent of employees across the organization.
6. Bonnie Panlasigui was tapped as the first president of Summa Health System Hospitals.This new role was first announced in October as the Akron, Ohio-based system made 10 changes to its executive team: reshuffling three leaders’ roles, adding three positions and eliminating four.
7. Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network named two new regional and hospital presidents. Bob Begliomini, PharmD, was appointed president of Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest campus in Allentown, according to a news release shared with Becker’s. He will also lead the health system’s Lehigh region, which includes four hospital campuses. Jim Miller, CRNA, was selected to replace Mr. Begliomini as president of the Muhlenberg hospital. He was also named president of the health system’s Northampton region, which includes three hospitals, Muhlenberg being one of them.
8. McLaren St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Ohio, will lay off 743 workers, including 239 registered nurses, when it permanently closes this spring. Other affected roles include physical therapists, radiology technicians, respiratory therapists, pharmacists and pharmacy support staff, and nursing assistants. The hospital’s COO is also affected, and a spokesperson for McLaren Health Care told Becker’s other senior leadership roles are also affected.
9. Habersham Medical Center in Demorest, Ga., laid off four executives. The layoffs were part of cost-cutting measures before the hospital joined Gainesville-based Northeast Georgia Health System.
10. Grand Forks, N.D.-based Altru Health announced it would trim its executive team as its new hospital project moves forward. The health system is trimming its executive team from nine to six and incentivizing 34 other employees to take early retirement.
11. Scripps Health eliminated 70 administrative roles, according to WARN documents filed by the San Diego-based health system in March. The layoffs took effect May 8 and affect corporate positions in San Diego and La Jolla, Calif.
12. Columbia-based University of Missouri Health Care announced it would eliminate five hospital leadership positions across the organization. According to MU Health Care, the move is a result of restructuring “to better support patients and the future healthcare needs of Missourians.”
13. Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health laid off about 50 workers, including C-level executives, the health system confirmed to Becker’s March 29. The layoffs affected Jesse Cureton, the health system’s executive vice president and chief consumer officer since 2013; Angela Yochem, its executive vice president and chief transformation and digital officer since 2020; and Paula Dean Kranz, vice president of innovation enablement and executive director of the Novant Health Innovation Labs.
14. Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine announced that it would eliminate administrative positions. The change is part of a reorganization plan to save the health system $40 million annually, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported March 13. Kevin Mahoney, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, told Penn Medicine’s 49,000 employees changes include the elimination of a “small number of administrative positions which no longer align with our key objectives,” according to the publication.
15. Sovah Health, part of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health, eliminated the COO positions at its Danville and Martinsville, Va., campuses. The responsibilities of both COO roles are now spread across members of the existing administrative team.
16. Valley Health, a six-hospital health system based in Winchester, Va., eliminated 31 administrative positions. The job cuts are part of the consolidation of the organization’s leadership team and administrative roles. They were announced internally on Feb. 28.
17. Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health announced it would transition from seven networks of care to five systemwide to reduce costs and strengthen operations. Under the reorganization, the health system will have separate networks for Northern California, Central California, Southern California, Oregon and Hawaii. The reorganization will result in job cuts, including reducing administration by more than $100 million.
HENRY KOTULA 