Baystate Health completes cuts with 43 layoffs

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Health is laying off another 43 people this week, completing the monthslong process of bringing its workforce in line with budget reality, the hospital system said Tuesday.

Since November, Baystate has reduced its workforce in total by 7%. It said 60% of the total reductions were realized through attrition.

In November, Baystate Health cut 134 leadership jobs, less than 1% of its workforce. In February, Baystate then eliminated 98 corporate positions .

On Tuesday, Peter D. Banko, president and CEO, said in a statement that these most recent 43 jobs were selected to minimize direct effects to patient care.

Individual discussions with those affected will be completed no later than Friday, Banko said.

Banko took over last summer amid bad financial news in the post-pandemic world.

Baystate suffered $300 million in operational losses between 2020 and 2023, Banko announced over the summer.

The hospital system lost $177 million in 2022 alone. That year was also a bad year for the stock market, so Baystate Health lost $150 million on its investments, in addition to the operational loss.

Banko's plan is to close that gap through both cuts and bringing in more revenue. A year ago, he said Baystate Health needs to cut expenses and boost revenue by a combined $225 million in 2024. He hoped the hospital system would regain its own financial health in 2025.

About half the $225 million goal must come from increased revenue, Banko has said.

On Tuesday, he said Baystate is meeting with success.

"Since launching our core operations improvement journey in October 2024, we are seeing meaningful and measurable progress — both in the success of our transformation efforts and, most importantly, in our progress toward long-term consistent and predictable financial resilience," Banko wrote.

Recently, credit rating agencies affirmed Baystate's A+ rating, while noting there is a possibility of a downgrade in the future.

The negative outlook reflects operating losses of $61 million in 2024 and $63 million in 2023, Baystate said , and the business risk associated with this ongoing transformation plan.

Its planned deal to sell its health insurance arm, Health New England, for $165 million fell through in January.

Baystate is one of the region's largest employers, with a 13,000-person workforce.

The hospital system is by far the region's largest health care provider, with 1.8 million yearly outpatient visits, 37,000 surgeries, 4,000 births and 180,000 emergency room visits.

Baystate has 980 beds on average across five hospitals. Baystate Medical Center in Springfield is the only top-level trauma center in Western Massachusetts.