A cost-saving shift in laundry services at Westchester Medical Center will result in layoffs for 40 workers at the Valhalla hospital by the end of this month.
Crothall Services Group, based in Wayne, Pa., recently notified the state Labor Department of the impending layoffs of its employees in housekeeping and laundry services on the Westchester academic medical campus.
WMC spokesman David Billig said the change in contractual services follows the medical center”™s long-term agreement with its new supply-chain partner, MedAssets Inc., which was announced in July 2009.
Laundry operations will be moved to an off-site service “to reduce our operating expenses and utility costs significantly with no adverse effect on patient care,” he said. “This is particularly important to the medical center during this period as we continue to address a reduction in reimbursements from New York state and the elimination of all funding from the county.”
Billig had no estimate of cost savings from the shift in services. WMC President and CEO Michael D. Israel last summer said the strategic partnership with MedAssets, based in Alpharetta, Ga., will help the 635-bed medical center control its $125 million annual supply expense.
Billig said while on-site laundry services will end on Feb. 28, Crothall Services Group will continue to provide housekeeping and patient transport services.
