Banner Health to lay off 145 from Valley hospitals

Heard this on the radio yesterday. The radio report said it would be mostly admin personel.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...1banner21.html

Banner Health set to lay off 145 people from Valley hospitals

Jodie Snyder
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 21, 2005 12:00 AM

One of the state's largest employers, Banner Health, will lay off 145 people today in part because fewer people than expected are going to its new West Valley hospital.

Banner opened Banner Estrella Medical Center at 9201 W. Thomas Road in January. It has two other major projects under way and says it will use lessons learned about growth related to Estrella as it opens other hospitals.

Currently, Banner's Arizona division has a $6.6 million gap between actual and projected net revenue. If no action is taken, that gap could widen to $11 million, said Peter Fine, Banner's chief executive officer. advertisement

The gap represents a sliver of Banner's $2 billion budget, but officials say they want to head off any problems.

"We are trying to jump on it early," Fine said.

Fine stressed the shortfall is only being seen in operations in Arizona, one of seven Western states where Banner has hospitals.

Banner has about 17,000 employees in Arizona. The layoffs will happen throughout its eight hospitals in the Valley but will be "significant" at Estrella, where patient volumes are off, Fine said.

Full Story: http://www.azcentral.com/business/ar...1banner21.html


Reach the reporter at jodie.snyder@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-8667.