PeaceHealth will permanently eliminate 150 technology jobs this fall as the Vancouver-based health system moves forward with plans to outsource much of its IT operation.
PeaceHealth disclosed the number in a notice to Washington state labor officials Friday, answering a key question left hanging since the Catholic nonprofit told employees this summer that job cuts were coming.
The layoffs will take effect Nov. 20 as PeaceHealth begins a five-year contract with The HCI Group, the U.S. health care technology subsidiary of India-based Tech Mahindra.
The cuts span much of PeaceHealth’s technology operation. They include application developers and analysts, cybersecurity workers, network and database administrators, data specialists and employees who troubleshoot technology inside hospitals — the behind-the-scenes workforce that keeps everything from computers to clinical systems running.
Most of the affected positions — 119 — are assigned to PeaceHealth facilities in Vancouver, primarily its corporate offices near the Columbia River. The rest are spread across Washington, with two in Springfield, Oregon. Because some IT employees work remotely, those locations don’t necessarily reflect where they live or perform their day-to-day work.
The transition will affect more employees than those slated for layoffs. Spokesperson Jim Murez said PeaceHealth expects the final number of affected employees to be less than 250, representing less than 1.5% of its overall workforce.
PeaceHealth has not said what will happen to employees whose jobs are affected but not eliminated, including how many will stay with the health system or move to the contractor. Murez said everyone directly affected has been notified.
Hospital leaders say the outsourcing will provide employees with faster IT help, make computer systems more reliable and bring in newer technology. PeaceHealth will still decide what technology it uses and remain responsible for cybersecurity and protecting patient information, Murez said, while the contractors handle much of the day-to-day IT work.
“On-site technology support will continue across PeaceHealth facilities throughout and following the transition, and the level of on-site support will not decrease,” Murez wrote in an email.
PeaceHealth leaders previously said they would continue to store patient data in the United States and that the outsourcing would not affect employees who provide direct patient care.
The HCI Group specializes in health care technology and works extensively with Epic, the electronic health record system PeaceHealth and many other hospitals use. The company’s website says it has worked with more than 130 organizations that use Epic and helps health systems move their electronic health records to Amazon Web Services.
Sarah Ness, PeaceHealth’s president and CEO, told employees in July that the health system chose HCI to modernize its IT services as its technology needs grew more complex.
PeaceHealth leaders have not disclosed how much they expect to save by outsourcing the work or whether cost savings factored into the decision.
The layoff notice says workers will receive all wages they are owed when their jobs end. They will not have bumping rights, which would allow more senior employees to displace less senior workers to keep a job.
PeaceHealth has a major economic presence in both Washington and Oregon. It is Clark County’s largest employer and operates hospitals and clinics across the Eugene-Springfield area in Lane County.
The IT layoffs are the latest in a string of cuts at PeaceHealth. Last fall, the health system eliminated about 240 administrative and patient-facing positions and later cut 18 leadership jobs. Earlier this year, it eliminated another 94 more positions, including nurses and other employees who provided direct patient care.
The cuts come as Ness, who took the helm in January, pursues a broader transformation of the health system. In a LinkedIn video posted last week, she said PeaceHealth is trying to grow and modernize while fundamentally changing how it operates.
PeaceHealth will look “very different in the future because we have to,” Ness said.
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