380 layoffs announced across Allegheny Health Network, Highmark Health, another affiliate

Allegheny Health Network officials announced that AHN and two affiliates are laying off about 380 employees, mostly as the result of the covid-19 pandemic.

About 250 of the job cuts mostly are from AHN’s corporate and administrative services, in addition to some clinical support staff, spokeswoman Lynn Seay said via email Thursday.

“Similar to other U.S. health care providers, Allegheny Health Network has experienced significant operational and economic challenges related to the covid-19 pandemic,” Seay wrote. “In Western (Pennsylvania), where the surge of covid-19 patients has been minimal, social distancing measures and other strategies, such as postponement of elective surgeries, have drastically reduced patient volumes across most service lines.”

Seay said there has been a steep rise in the number of virtual and telehealth patients across the network.

“AHN’s telehealth program has grown from less than 50 patient appointments per day prior to the pandemic to 4,000 per day now,” Seay said. “Although patient volumes at AHN are increasing as the network returns to a more normalized schedule for surgical cases and other procedures, the dramatic increase in telehealth is a trend that is expected to continue to a significant degree in a post-covid-19 world and over the long term.”

130 cuts coming from affiliates

Highmark Health’s IT department and HM Health Solutions positions are also being reduced by about 130 due, in part, to the pandemic.

A little more than 60 of those positions in the IT department are part of the final stage of an infrastructure transition announced in 2015.

The remaining cuts are being attributed to the pandemic.

Severance packages will be available to those who are eligible.

“The economic environment triggered by the pandemic has resulted in increased unemployment and therefore, less insured members at the health plans that HMHS serves,” Seay said. “Impacted employees will also have the opportunity to extend their existing health care benefits for a minimum of six months at no additional cost to themselves. They will also be eligible for unemployment and stimulus benefits.”

More information on how Allegheny Health Network’s handling the pandemic is available at ahn.org.