[ad_1]
SIOUX FALLS, SD – One of South Dakota’s largest employers is laying off some of its workforce due to rapidly rising costs of equipment and supplies.
Avera Health, based in Sioux Falls, said it is cutting jobs among its non-clinical workforce, including administrative staff, but not positions such as doctors and nurses.
“We are resizing our organization with a greater focus on delivering high-quality patient care,” Avera Health said in an emailed statement. We are working hard to find it.”
It’s unclear how many people were affected by the Avera Health workforce cuts. The emailed statement was not identified and an Avera representative did not immediately respond to a follow-up request.
Avera Health employs nearly 20,000 people at 37 hospitals, 215 clinics and 40 senior living facilities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska.
Avera Health isn’t the only one facing higher costs for supplies and equipment, forcing health systems to decide how to cover the gap in their balance sheets.
A
According to Kaufman Hall and the American Hospital Association, more than 50% of U.S. hospitals expect to maintain negative operating margins this year, largely due to rising costs across all business sectors.
Supplies alone are expected to be 20-25% more expensive than before the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Avera Health reported that it was experiencing an average inflation rate of 2-3 percent before the pandemic. Right now, the health system is facing 25-40% price inflation for many common medical supplies and other equipment.
“While Avera is caring for more patients than ever before, higher inflation and other additional costs have resulted in costs that we must address,” Avera Health said in a statement. “In that sense, we’re trying to be more efficient, focused and creative by looking at health care differently and more cost-effectively while using innovation.”
[ad_2]
Source link
