Group Health to lay off 363 in Redmond closure
Overlake, other facilities hiring
By DAN RICHMANP-I REPORTER
Seattle's Group Health Cooperative has told 363 hospital employees they will be laid off as the nonprofit system's Eastside campus in Redmond begins shutting down.
But the precise number of people who will be out of work is hard to determine.
That's because Group Health says some of the affected workers may be hired to fill openings at its outpatient facilities, or at Bellevue's newly expanded Overlake Hospital Medical Center.
"It's a complicated situation," Group Health spokesman Mike Foley said.
About half the affected employees are nurses, with the rest serving as supervisors, lab assistants, pharmacists, pharmacist technicians, clerks, janitors and food servers, Foley said.
All work at Group Health's Hospital & Specialty Center, at 2700 152nd Ave. N.E. in Redmond, which will stop providing inpatient services May 1. After that, Group Health will house all its inpatients at Overlake, though its own doctors will care for them.
Overlake, which recently built a 120-bed inpatient tower, has made job offers to about 50 laid-off Group Health workers, 35 of them nurses, Overlake spokeswoman Karen Johnson said.
She confirmed the hospital is creating up to 400 new jobs as a result of opening its new south tower in September.
But the Group Health workers must apply for positions at Overlake -- it's not just a question of transferring. That doesn't sit well with Chris Barton, secretary treasurer of Service Employees International Union Health Care 1199 Northwest, which represents most of the affected workers.
"Overlake should have offered incentives and guaranteed them jobs right upfront, because jobs are being created by patients going there," Barton said.
"It's a big mistake they didn't do that, because RNs don't grow on trees."
Group Health's Foley called the layoff situation complicated, because "people with seniority bump those with less seniority for existing positions and bid for jobs."
Even SEIU's Barton couldn't say how many of the affected workers might end up jobless.
"We're just now having people ID the jobs they'd be interested in and deciding whether they want a severance package," she said.
The laid-off workers got notice about two weeks ago, though the state's Employment Security Department released news of the layoffs only Monday.
Group Health's Eastside campus consists of three facilities: the Hospital & Specialty Center, the Primary Care Center and the Behavioral Health Services.
The latter also offers vision and hearing services.
Outpatient medical specialties, such as cardiology and urology -- now offered at the Hospital & Specialty Center -- are scheduled to move July 1 to a new outpatient center next to Overlake Hospital.
The Primary Care Center is scheduled to close in October and move to a new facility in Redmond.
Foley said the layoffs "have nothing to do" with cuts promised in a November memo from Group Health Chief Executive Scott Armstrong and Medical Director Hugh Straley. They told the system's 9,700 employees that its current cost structure was "unsustainable."
They also said Group Health will cut $108 million from its 2008 budget by laying off employees and cutting some functions, in an attempt to keep its rates below those of competitors.
In a previous round of layoffs, Group Health cut at least 75 workers late last year. In August, it moved into new headquarters in the Westlake/Terry Building on South Lake Union.
P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com.
By DAN RICHMANP-I REPORTER
Seattle's Group Health Cooperative has told 363 hospital employees they will be laid off as the nonprofit system's Eastside campus in Redmond begins shutting down.
But the precise number of people who will be out of work is hard to determine.
That's because Group Health says some of the affected workers may be hired to fill openings at its outpatient facilities, or at Bellevue's newly expanded Overlake Hospital Medical Center.
"It's a complicated situation," Group Health spokesman Mike Foley said.
About half the affected employees are nurses, with the rest serving as supervisors, lab assistants, pharmacists, pharmacist technicians, clerks, janitors and food servers, Foley said.
All work at Group Health's Hospital & Specialty Center, at 2700 152nd Ave. N.E. in Redmond, which will stop providing inpatient services May 1. After that, Group Health will house all its inpatients at Overlake, though its own doctors will care for them.
Overlake, which recently built a 120-bed inpatient tower, has made job offers to about 50 laid-off Group Health workers, 35 of them nurses, Overlake spokeswoman Karen Johnson said.
She confirmed the hospital is creating up to 400 new jobs as a result of opening its new south tower in September.
But the Group Health workers must apply for positions at Overlake -- it's not just a question of transferring. That doesn't sit well with Chris Barton, secretary treasurer of Service Employees International Union Health Care 1199 Northwest, which represents most of the affected workers.
"Overlake should have offered incentives and guaranteed them jobs right upfront, because jobs are being created by patients going there," Barton said.
"It's a big mistake they didn't do that, because RNs don't grow on trees."
Group Health's Foley called the layoff situation complicated, because "people with seniority bump those with less seniority for existing positions and bid for jobs."
Even SEIU's Barton couldn't say how many of the affected workers might end up jobless.
"We're just now having people ID the jobs they'd be interested in and deciding whether they want a severance package," she said.
The laid-off workers got notice about two weeks ago, though the state's Employment Security Department released news of the layoffs only Monday.
Group Health's Eastside campus consists of three facilities: the Hospital & Specialty Center, the Primary Care Center and the Behavioral Health Services.
The latter also offers vision and hearing services.
Outpatient medical specialties, such as cardiology and urology -- now offered at the Hospital & Specialty Center -- are scheduled to move July 1 to a new outpatient center next to Overlake Hospital.
The Primary Care Center is scheduled to close in October and move to a new facility in Redmond.
Foley said the layoffs "have nothing to do" with cuts promised in a November memo from Group Health Chief Executive Scott Armstrong and Medical Director Hugh Straley. They told the system's 9,700 employees that its current cost structure was "unsustainable."
They also said Group Health will cut $108 million from its 2008 budget by laying off employees and cutting some functions, in an attempt to keep its rates below those of competitors.
In a previous round of layoffs, Group Health cut at least 75 workers late last year. In August, it moved into new headquarters in the Westlake/Terry Building on South Lake Union.
P-I reporter Dan Richman can be reached at 206-448-8032 or danrichman@seattlepi.com.
Labels: layoffs, Seattle, Washington
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