The pending elimination of 207 information technology jobs at UnityPoint Health will include 189 at 11 locations in Iowa, according to new information on Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, site.
The WARN posting also says the jobs will be eliminated by July 24.
Des Moines-based UnityPoint announced Wednesday, April 15, that it would be outsourcing the IT work. But it didn’t specify where and when the jobs would be eliminated.
The Des Moines-based nonprofit company employs 31,000 people, with 18 regional hospitals and more than 420 clinics throughout Iowa and portions of Illinois and Wisconsin. They include Iowa Methodist Medical Center and Iowa Lutheran Hospital in Des Moines and UnityPoint Methodist West Hospital in West Des Moines.
The WARN posting says almost half of the jobs being eliminated ― 97 ― are in Hiawatha, with another 85 in Des Moines, West Des Moines and Grimes. Two positions are being cut in Dubuque and one each in Waterloo, Sioux City, Marshalltown, Fort Dodge and Cedar Rapids.
The remaining 18 positions will be at locations in Illinois or Wisconsin.
The company also said Wednesday it will be eliminating an undetermined number of jobs in its revenue cycle department, with those functions also being outsourced.
The WARN notice is dated April 14 but didn’t appear on the site until Friday.
Vendors in Ireland, Florida to take over functions of laid-off workers
UnityPoint said in a news release that the affected employees will be provided severance pay, benefits continuation and career transition support.
The vendor for the IT transition is Accenture, a multi-national technology company based in Dublin, Ireland. Some employees may have opportunities to transition to the vendor, Kevin Kirkpatrick, senior media relations specialist for UnityPoint, said Wednesday.
The vendor for the revenue department transition is Omega Healthcare, based in Baca Raton, Florida.
“Our focus is on transitioning select functions to a third-party vendor to help UnityPoint Health leverage advanced technologies, reduce costs, and improve the overall user experience, while maintaining local leadership oversight, governance and accountability for these functions,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement.
In the announcement, UnityPoint emphasized that as a community-based, nonprofit health system, none of the savings from the changes “benefit shareholders, investors, or venture capital firms ― but are reinvested back into UPH for the betterment of its patients, team members, and communities.”
It said the restructuring of its IT and revenue functions are driven by a number of factors occurring in the health care industry.
“Like many health systems across the country, we are navigating a period of sustained financial pressure driven by a number of factors, including rising labor, supply and drug costs, reductions in reimbursement, and increased demand for complex care,” Kirkpatrick said in an email.
The other major nonprofit health care provider in Des Moines, MercyOne, also has made recent cuts, citing financial pressures.
“Each organization is responding to those pressures in ways that best support their long-term sustainability and commitment to the people and communities they serve,” Kirkpatrick said. “For UnityPoint Health, these targeted changes are about ensuring we can continue providing high-quality, local care and remain strong for the future.”
Kevin Baskins covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at kbaskins@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Here’s where and when UnityPoint job cuts will occur in Iowa
Reporting by Kevin Baskins, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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