UMass Memorial shutters two clinics, pauses non-clinical hiring
Photo I WBJ File
UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester
UMass Memorial Health has implemented a system-wide hiring pause on all non-clinical, non-patient-facing roles and shuttered two primary care operations within its behavioral health clinics as the Worcester-based healthcare system is grappling with the effects of long-term financial hurdles.
The hiring pause was implemented about two months ago and comes as UMass has halted a number of expansion projects, eliminated travel for employees, and cut all spending on food and meetings, said Dr. Eric Dickson, president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health.
The system closed two primary care facilities located in Leominster and Worcester within its Community Healthlink program, an initiative that all together provides behavioral and mental health care to more than 22,000 individuals annually, according to its website. The Leominster site closed on Sept. 30 and the Worcester location ended services on March 31.
The decisions to pause hiring and close the facilities are in response to mounting financial hardships hospitals throughout the state have been experiencing, said Dickson.
“We've been able to hold on for the last five years when others are losing money, but this year, we have joined the club with everyone else,” he said.
Financial strains including medical inflation, rising drug costs, health insurance redeterminations, and the state’s shrinking Health Safety Net, which funds specific essential services for those under and uninsured, have all contributed to UMass Memorial’s need to cut costs.
“I would say that, somewhere around a quarter of our losses, 20% to 25% of our attributed losses, are because of the shortfall in the Health Safety Net,” said Dickson.
This hiring pause is different than a hiring freeze, said Shelly Hazlett, spokeswoman for UMass Memorial.
UMass doesn’t know yet when it will lift the hiring pause, as that decision is based on financing that is up in the air, Dickson said.
The pauses will continue “until I get the numbers back on track because they are off,” said Dickson.
UPDATE: This article has been updated to include the closure dates of the Community Healthlink locations in Leominster and Worcester.
Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.
0 Comments