UCMC Slashes 450 Jobs

The University of Chicago Medical Center this week announced 450 layoffs of non-physician positions as part of a restructuring aimed at trimming $100 million in costs.

The hospital said it planned to cut other positions among its workforce of 10,000 through attrition over the next 18 months. UCMC is coping with a decline in admissions and increased costs. Although officials expect hospital operations to remain profitable, margins have narrowed.

“We deeply regret the loss of so many talented employees from our team, especially at such a challenging time in the job market,” chief executive officer James L. Madara said in a statement.

As part of the restructuring, UCMC intends to eliminate 30 inpatient beds, cut some weekend surgical hours, and divert some non-emergency patients that come through its emergency room to other clinics or health care facilities.

The hospital is selling about $160 million of refunding debt this week through the Illinois Finance Authority. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo Brokerage Services, and BMO Capital Markets GKST Inc. are serving as remarketing agents. The floating-rate debt will carry letter of credits from Wells Fargo NA and the Bank of Montreal, which owns BMO.

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Healthcare industry
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