Crozer-Keystone to cut 325 jobs in Delaware Valley

The Crozer-Keystone Health System is laying off 325 workers from its five hospitals and one health network in the Delaware Valley.

Spokeswoman Kathy Scullin said the health system’s bottom line is hurting from the shift from inpatient to outpatient treatments.

“Insurance companies who used to reimburse us for a three-day patient stay are now only reimbursing us for 18 hours, so we’re losing thousands of dollars on these cases,” Scullin said.

In the last 18 months, Scullin said, about 25 percent of traditional inpatient business has shifted to outpatient.

Scullin says the layoffs will be enacted proportionally throughout the health system’s 7,000 employees.

So far, 150 employees have taken the early retirement packages offered to reduce forced layoffs.

Bill Cruice, from the union that represents nurses at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, said the reasons given by the hospital for the layoffs do not ring true to him.

“They made $8 million the first six months of the (fiscal) year,” Cruice said. “So there doesn’t seem to be a sync between the hospital making money and saying that they need to downsize.”

Scullin said that profit represents only about 1 percent of Crozer-Keystone’s annual revenue.