West Coast nonprofit health system Providence announced new waves of layoffs after already trimming hundreds across this calendar year.
At the organization's nine-hospital Providence Swedish system in Washington, approximately 296 positions are being reduced across the Central Puget Sound region. The cuts, which represent 3.8% of Providence Swedish's total, include open positions that will remain unfilled alongside currently staffed union and non-union roles.
More than 100 departments are being hit, spanning a combination of frontline and clinical, administrative, support and management titles, according to the announcement. The reductions will go into effect in early 2026.
The announcement cited "multiple headwinds" ranging from Medicaid costs, commercial insurer denials, costly local legislation and taxes and slipping procedural volumes. The layoffs will be accompanied by the closure of a pharmacy and an outpatient weight loss clinic before the end of the year.
“These are tough and complex—but necessary—decisions to address the significant economic pressures facing health care today,” Elizabeth Wako, M.D., president and CEO of Swedish Health Services, said in a statement. “While layoffs are never our first choice, they are needed to sustain this organization.”
Meanwhile, in Oregon, "more than 150" employees have been told their positions are being eliminated, according to a separate announcement attributed to Providence Oregon Chief Executive Jennifer Burrows. Most of the affected positions are non-clinical roles, and span the system's acute care hospitals, its medical group and its health plan. That announcement similarly pointed to financial strain "intensified by recent policy changes and regulatory pressures."
Both announcements noted that the organization will be providing support services to those affected. The Swedish announcement highlighted job placement, career counseling and other resources through its employee assistance program, while the Providence Oregon notice said efforts will be made to transition workers into different roles "where possible. However, we know that some will be leaving Providence."
The 51-hospital nonprofit just this past week released quarterly financials that showed, for the first time in years, a positive operating margin of 0.3%. President and CEO Erik Wexler, in an accompanying statement, said the multiyear turnaround "has taken a tremendous amount of hard work and decisive action from everyone across Providence St. Joseph Health, and that effort is starting to make a real difference.” Still, Wexler and Chief Financial Officer Greg Hoffman warned of more financial challenges to come, particularly with the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill and its Medicaid cuts.
The latest layoff news comes in the wake of a restructuring announcement in June that trimmed 600 full-time equivalent positions, prior plans within Providence Oregon to cut 128 jobs as shared in August, layoffs in May at Providence Health Plan affecting about five dozen employees and a longstanding hiring freeze.
Across 2024, Providence reported nearly $31 billion in total operating revenues but a $644 million operating loss (-2.1% operating margin). It employs more than 120,000 workers.