Dive Brief:
- Pennsylvania-based health system UPMC is laying off around 200 employees and eliminating approximately 300 open positions, a spokesperson confirmed to Healthcare Dive.
- The spokesperson declined to specify the exact positions that are being cut, but said the layoffs are primarily among those not in clinical or member-facing roles.
- The layoffs and reductions are occurring as UPMC “regularly assesses” its services, the spokesperson said, adding that it would provide enhanced severance pay and benefits coverage for those affected.
Dive Insight:
A coalition of nurses and advanced practitioners who are part of the union SEIU Healthcare PA said the cuts would exacerbate staffing issues.
“When UPMC reduces staff, those duties often then fall on nurses when we already do not have enough time with our patients to provide the level of care we believe in,” said Michelle Hart, a neonatal nurse practitioner on behalf of the coalition, in a statement. “We’ve heard clearly from our community that they want much more time with us, not less.”
The most recent round of layoffs comes after UPMC cut over 1,000 roles in 2024, or about 1% of its workforce at the time. UPMC said challenges posed by the “still-evolving post-pandemic marketplace” caused the health system to downsize.
UPMC has struggled with losses in recent years, but seemed to turn a corner in 2025. The health system posted $316 million in operating income, minus some restructuring costs, representing a more than $600 million improvement from 2024.
At the end of the year, UPMC had more than $9 billion in cash and investments.
UPMC joins other health systems that had laid off workers this year as hospitals grapple with rising costs and looming cuts to federal health programs.
The University of Vermont Health Network announced this month it had cut 76 jobs and reassigned 66 other roles. Centra Health, a regional system based in Lynchburg, Virginia, said it would lay off about 90 employees earlier this month, according to reporting from Virginia Business.
