UCI Health, which just opened a new hospital with 970 new employees in Irvine four months ago, plans to lay off 150 healthcare workers as part of a restructuring throughout its system.
“Like healthcare systems across California and nationally, UCI Health is operating in a changing environment that includes shifts in federal funding, reimbursement pressures and rising operational costs,” said Dominic Parero, a UCI Health spokesman, in a March 23 statement to the Southern California News Group. “This restructuring reflects both the need to adapt to those external factors and to align our organization with evolving community demand. As healthcare needs evolve, we are realigning how we operate to expand access, strengthen key services and support our academic health system. This allows us to deliver the right care, in the right setting, at the right time — today and into the future.”
UCI Health is joining a wave of other hospitals across the state that have collectively laid off thousands of employees over the past year because they’ve been stripped of billions of dollars in federal and state funding for health care. The catalyst for the cuts is coming from the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR 1, signed into law last summer by President Donald Trump.
The layoffs at UCI Health include a mix of operational, administrative and support functions across the organization, and affect 1% of the system’s 14,200 employees.
The restructuring and layoffs are not concentrated in one location, Parero said. “The roles affected span multiple areas of the organization as part of a systemwide realignment of how work is structured to better support patient and community needs. Patient care remains our top priority, and we are taking steps to maintain continuity, access and quality across all care sites.”
It’s unclear if any layoffs occurred at UCI Health’s newly opened, 144-bed acute-care specialty hospital on the UCI Health-Irvine medical campus. That facility, which opened in December, hired 350 nurses, therapists and environmental services staff.
Parero said employees are being told of the layoffs systemwide this week through “direct conversations between leaders and affected co-workers.”
The UCI system has been expanding rapidly in recent years. Besides the new hospital, UCI Health acquired four hospitals and outpatient clinics from Tenet Healthcare Corp. for $975 million in early 2024. The transaction included Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia-Linda Hospital
“We approach this moment with respect and care, feeling deeply grateful for our co-workers’ vital contributions to our community and those we serve,” said Chad Lefteris, president and chief executive officer of UCI Health, of the layoffs. “We recognize that change impacts all of our co-workers. But this realignment is vital to ensuring our ability to continue meeting the evolving needs of the communities we serve.”
UCI Health serves 5.6 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County.
Laid-off workers will receive financial support, job placement services and priority consideration for open positions across UCI Health as part of the organization’s realignment, according to Parero.