Visiting nurses and their supporters hold signs and banners outside Baystate Medical Center, where they have been working without a contract for a year.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
SPRINGFIELD — For what is the third time in roughly five months, Baystate Health is reducing its workforce as one mechanism to recover from previous operating losses.
In a statement sent to the media, Baystate President and CEO Peter Banko announced that 43 individuals will be laid off, and individual discussions with those impacted would be completed no later than May 2.
He said positions were selected to minimize impact to direct patient care.
“We deeply understand the profound effect these transitions have on our people, their families, and our community as the anchor employer in Western Massachusetts,” Banko said. “We continue to aggressively recruit, hire and retain physicians, advanced practice providers and bed-side caregivers.”
According to Banko, eligible team members who are not transitioned to another position in the organization will receive severance pay and other job support, including access to career transition services.
The recent round of layoffs comes after Baystate cut 134 leadership jobs, or less than 1% of its workforce, in November as well as 98 corporate jobs in February.
Since the fall, Baystate has reduced its workforce by a total of 7%, and about 60% of the reductions were realized through attrition, according to Banko.
In March, a credit rating agency affirmed Baystate’s A+ rating and said that the health center “delivered first quarter results better than budget and at a breakeven operating margin with stronger volumes and improvements in core operations.”
However, a “Negative Outlook” was attached to Baystate, which reflects operating losses the health system previously faced, including $61 million in 2024 and $63 million in 2023.
The “Negative Outlook” designation also refers to an “execution risk” linked to Baystate’s comprehensive multi-year $225+ million transformation plan, which was initiated by Baystate’s senior management team to cut expenses and boost revenue.
In total, Baystate has experienced a total of more than $300 million in operating losses since the coronavirus pandemic.
Banko said the health system has more work to do to achieve sustainable financial transformation and added that they are “actively working on redesigns in supply chain, pharmacy and revenue cycle management.”
He said Baystate is “encouraged and extremely optimistic by our planning, alignment, and actions toward our clear direction forward.”
“This summer, we will start planning for FY26 by focusing on the physician enterprise (Baystate Medical Practices) and care management (including acute length of stay management) across the enterprise,” Banko said. “At the same time, we will initiate an intentional implementation of Baystate Health 2030 (our new strategic plan) to grow our hospitals and service lines, integrate Health New England, and more supportively engage, retain and develop our employees.”
Reminder Publishing reached out to Baystate for further comment on how these layoffs will affect patient care and wait times. In response, they said they are “sticking to the attached statement” from Banko that was sent to media.
Alongside the layoffs, visiting nurses, who are working without a contract, conducted a protest outside Baystate Medical Center on May 1 as part of International Workers Day.
