Dive Brief:

• Mass General Brigham confirmed on Monday it was cutting roles in its technology unit, less than a month after the health system offered voluntary separation agreements to its digital workforce.
• Fewer than 20 individuals will be impacted by the job cuts, according to the system.
• Mass General Brigham has struggled financially in recent years and was placed on a performance plan by state regulators in 2022. However, the operator has since reported rebounding profits, logging a net gain of $437.5 million in the third quarter this year compared with a nearly $949 million loss in the prior year period.

Dive Insight:

Mass General Brigham said the decision to reduce its technology division, which provides services ranging from information technology to maintaining patients’ electronic health records, stems from the system’s evolving care delivery model.

“As care delivery changes, whether in a hospital or clinic setting or delivered remotely through in-person or virtual appointments, the tools and technology used to reach patients and support our mission also continues to evolve,” according to a Monday statement from the health system.

Mass General Brigham is the largest private employer in Massachusetts, employing over 80,000 at a network of hospitals, urgent care facilities and specialty practices, according to its website. Its finances have been under scrutiny from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission for several years, following allegations that the nonprofit missed financial targets between 2014 and 2019.

Though the system reported progress toward sustained profitability in the third quarter of this year, operating expenses still totaled $4.8 billion — an increase of 10% over the 2022 third quarter, with wages rising 6% to total $110 million.

In a press release accompanying the third quarter earnings, system CFO Niyum Gandhi said the operator would need to maintain a close watch on rising expenses in order to continue its path to recovery.

MGB declined to share details about severance terms offered to the impacted employees, however the system said that “we will be offering our employees all appropriate support as we make this transition.”

Employees who took the voluntary package offered in November received severance packages above the hospital’s standard rate — two weeks of severance for every year of service, compared with the organization’s standard separation package of one week of severance for every year of service, according to a Boston Herald report.