Ochsner to lay off nearly 800 employees in La., Miss. as supply costs rise

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Ochsner Health is planning to lay off nearly 800 employees across Louisiana and Mississippi.

Ochsner CEO Pete November sent a message to staff on Thursday, May 11 informing them of the pending layoffs.

Read the message here.

November stated 770 employees, which represents about 2% of the team, will be out of a job.

Officials report the layoffs won’t affect doctors, nurses, and other patient-facing staff. Workers in management, administrative jobs, and clerical positions will see most of the cuts.

Ochsner cited increased labor costs, a nationwide shortage of patient care clinicians, a weakened economy, and high inflation as part of the reason for the layoffs. Those factors have caused supply costs to escalate.

SPECIFICS FROM OCHSNER

• There are three key factors driving significant financial and operational pressure for healthcare providers across the country: increased labor costs, a nationwide shortage of patient care clinicians, and a weakened economy and high inflation, which has caused supply costs to escalate
• Impacted positions are management and primarily non-direct patient care roles. No physicians are impacted by this reduction, and any impacted employees with active clinical credentials will be offered direct patient care roles. We are not able to share additional details about the roles impacted by this reduction.
• This absolutely will not impact our ability to care for our patients and communities. Our patients and communities can continue to depend on us for the excellent, compassionate care they expect from Ochsner.
• There are no plans for an additional systemwide workforce reduction.

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