Dartmouth Health eliminates 124 positions, cancels 303 open jobs
By Sophia Venturo
Click here for updates on this story
LEBANON, New Hampshire (WPTZ) — Dartmouth Health has eliminated 124 employee positions and canceled 303 vacant positions as part of an effort to improve the health system’s long-term financial sustainability, according to a Tuesday press release.
The reductions affect Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon and Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Southern Region in Nashua. Dartmouth Health said the changes include consolidating and restructuring executive and administrative leadership roles, as well as eliminating several programs.
The announcement follows a June filing in which the hospital reported a $63.5 million loss for the quarter ending in March. At the time, the network cited its reliance on traveling health care workers, inflation and reimbursement rates.
In Tuesday’s release, Dartmouth Health said its operating expenses had increased by 12%, with labor, supply and drug costs rising faster than patient revenues. The health system also cited lower insurance reimbursements and delayed payments.
Programs affected include Tele-ICU and Tele-ED services, which allow specialists at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center to care for patients remotely. Dartmouth Health said the programs were financially unsustainable at their current scale without outside support.
The elimination of the programs could affect Dartmouth Health affiliate hospitals in rural areas of Vermont and New Hampshire, where telehealth services allow patients to receive care closer to home.
“Some have spent many years serving this organization,” Dartmouth Health CEO and President Joanne M. Conroy, MD, said in a statement. “The decision to eliminate a position or program does not diminish the value of the work these colleagues have done.”
The network said it is also reducing costs by limiting travel and conference participation, relying less on traveling health care workers and continuing selected construction and capital projects aimed at expanding patient capacity.
Dartmouth Health said it will continue reviewing staffing and program structures as part of its financial resiliency efforts.
The announcement followed a Tuesday morning notification from the University of Vermont Health Network to its employees that it was eliminating 199 positions across its hospital system.
Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.