St. Vincent’s Medical Center cut 100 positions and laid off 50 employees this week to save $10 million, according to the Connecticut Post.
The Bridgeport hospital announced the cuts last month in response to expected  state and federal funding cuts. The state budget passed by legislators June 5 included roughly $550 million in cuts to hospitals over the next two years, which equates to about $30 million less in funding for St. Vincent’s. Additionally, the hospital expects to lose $5 million in funding due to the federal sequester.
“This is a case of trying to look forward and protecting the direction and mission of our organization as the ground shifts beneath us,” Dianne Auger, vice president of St. Vincent’s Health Services, told the Connecticut Post. “This is a painful thing to go through.”
Some of the employees whose jobs were eliminated were offered new positions and those laid off received severance packages. The hospital employs about 3,500 people.
