North Mississippi Health Services (NMHS) has released plans to lay off numerous employees over the coming weeks as hospital officials implement a new “redesign” plan.
The health system sent out an email from CEO Shane Spees on Wednesday, attributing the layoffs to financial losses due to increasing costs in labor, supplies, and drugs.
“At the same time, what health care systems are paid to care for patients is not increasing as quickly as more and more patient care is being provided in the outpatient setting rather than within a hospital,” Spees stated. “North Mississippi Health Services is experiencing the same dramatic shift.”
According to the notice, staff members are being asked to consider being reassigned to a different position while certain jobs are eliminated and hours are reduced.
“To fulfill our mission — our responsibility to the community to continuously improve their health — we must make our own dramatic shift at NMHS,” Spees explained in the email. “These decisions are difficult because those impacted are real people — our teammates and friends.”
One decade has passed since NMHS laid off approximately 100 employees in 2013, which comprised of 1.7 percent of its total workforce.
Since then, the health system has reported stable balance sheets while being given an “A” rating throughout the pandemic for its financial management.
“Just as we did throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we will remain patient and family centered throughout these financial challenges and the shifting model within our industry,” Spees added.
A handful of other hospitals and health systems throughout the state have experienced layoffs in the past months, with Ochsner Health releasing the termination of 770 employees throughout Mississippi and Louisiana in May.
One week prior, Memorial Hospital on the Mississippi Gulf Coast announced plans to lay off nearly 90 employees because of increased costs from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several layoffs and closures were also made at the Mississippi Delta’s largest hospital in November, with approximately 70 staff members forced to leave Greenwood Leflore Hospital over six months.
The most recent layoffs were made last month at St. Dominic Memorial Hospital in Jackson. The hospital stated that a total of 157 full-time, part-time, and PRN employees are expected to be let go, citing losses of millions of dollars over the past three to five years as the main reason for the decision.
