New WA Taxes, Capped Reimbursements Lead to Major Virginia Mason Job Cuts

A WARN Alert (worker adjustment retraining notification) from WA Employment Security indicates Virginia Mason Healthcare System will be laying off a lot of workers.

   Alert confirmed by company officials

Virginia Mason's Fanciscan Health will lay off 116 workers beginning in late July, but a total of some 200 will be affected.

Workers who are in virtual services and administration will be most affected. Company officials released statements indicating due to existing challenges facing health care industries nationally, new taxes and financial pressures from the new WA state budget are behind the cuts.

Also, the budget calls for caps on reimbursements given to Virginia Mason from care given to state and school employees will affect their finances. Officials said the new laws and regulations will cost them an additional $30 million a year.

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Some of the workers who will be let go include Cardiac Monitor Techs. Many of  them work out of the Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Education and Support building in Tacoma. Another group being affected are dozens of union telemetry techs, who remotely monitor patients vital information (vitals) to ensure they're safe and stable.

Besides the 116 jobs, dozens more will be let go between November  and next Frebruary.