Providence Swedish to cut 296 positions, citing financial challenges<\/a><\/p>\nDoctors, nurses, and allied health workers\u2014 who spend years training for hospital roles\u2014 are now facing widespread uncertainty, according to Cassie Sauer, CEO of the Washington State Hospital Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cWages are good and the benefits are good,\u201d Sauer noted, adding, \u201cand for people to lose those jobs is a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The layoffs stretch across the region\u2019s best-known health systems. Before Providence Swedish\u2019s announcement, PeaceHealth disclosed more than 240 layoffs, Seattle Children\u2019s Hospital revealed plans to eliminate more than 150 jobs and Valley Medical Center confirmed about 100 reductions.<\/p>\n
Anirban Basu, a professor of health economics at the University of Washington, said patients will likely feel the effects quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When asked whether it would be harder for people to get in to see a doctor, he said, \u201cAbsolutely, absolutely, I mean the wait times will increase.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that delays were already building prior to the new staffing reductions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUnderstaffing was already there, I mean, our wait times to get an appointment was much higher than what it was before the pandemic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Sauer warns the changes may be especially visible in emergency departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be harder to move people through the hospital,\u201d Sauer said.<\/p>\n
However, she does not expect the quality of emergency response to decline. \u201cYou may wait longer if you\u2019ve got a broken finger or a broken arm, but if you have a heart attack, you should still be, you know, triaged right through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hospital leaders point to a growing list of financial challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe state cuts are here, and they\u2019re big\u2026 and the Federal cuts are bigger, and they\u2019re starting in 2027 and we know how big they are,\u201d Sauer said.<\/p>\n
Medicaid reductions under President Trump\u2019s One Big Beautiful Bill Act are projected to cost hospitals billions as coverage declines and reimbursements fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHospitals have to foot the bill because they can\u2019t deny care,” Basu said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Providence Swedish described its situation simply as \u201cfinancial uncertainty.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the coming months, Sauer said she plans to lobby Washington state lawmakers to reverse a recent increase to hospitals\u2019 business and occupation tax in an effort to ease financial pressures and prevent further cuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like many hospital systems, Providence Swedish said they are facing “multiple headwinds.” Experts warn it could mean longer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":306936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253],"class_list":{"0":"post-306935","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}