Texas Children’s Hospital laid off 997

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that Texas Children’s Hospital notified the state that it laid off 997 employees through job cuts announced last week, the first time the hospital has officially disclosed the number of affected workers. The figure included in a Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Notification submitted to the Texas Workforce Commission includes employees from all Texas Children’s locations. The hospital system includes more than 120 locations, including its Woodlands, West Campus and Austin hospitals. The hospital previously told the Chronicle that it was laying off 5% of its approximately 20,000 employees, or roughly 1,000 workers, but declined to provide an exact number. The number disclosed in the WARN notice is in line with that approximation.

The WARN notice offers more insight into the scale of the layoffs at the nation’s largest children’s hospital. Texas Children’s attributed the job cuts to a series of financial challenges, including lower patient volumes in Houston and a two-week delay in the opening of the new Austin campus. The hospital reported an operating income loss of nearly $200 million through the first six months of its current fiscal year. The layoffs have also affected patients. Families with children with complex medical needs told the Chronicle that their appointments for speech, physical and occupational therapy were postponed or canceled in the wake of the layoffs. Texas Children’s said Friday that it is working to reschedule appointments.