New York Hospital System to Cut 400 Jobs

The New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation announced today a plan to lay off 200 workers and eliminate another 200 positions through attrition.

The group will close four school-based mental health programs, four community clinics, three pharmacies, two case management programs, two mental health day treatment programs, and a hospital-based therapy program for tuberculosis patients.

City officials blamed the layoffs on the refusal by state leaders to increase Medicaid reimbursements to the hospital system.

But union officials said the service and workforce reductions are “not in keeping with the spirit of the $10 billion that New York State has received from President Obama’s stimulus package for the Medicaid program and the health care safety net.”

In addition to the job cuts, the hospitals corporation will try to increase efficiency, improve revenue collection. and close or reduce hospital-based and community-based programs.

The closings, and the layoffs, are to go into effect by June.