Parent company of Hilton Head, Coastal Carolina hospitals to cut 1,300 jobs

As a result of declining patient numbers and an increasing amount of debt, Tenet Healthcare recently announced that it plans to cut 1,300 positions.

Tenet Healthcare, the parent company of Hilton Head Hospital and Coastal Carolina Hospital, had a long-term debt of about $15 billion as of June 30, according to Reuters.

The layoffs are a part of a company goal to cut costs by $150 million in 2018, including “the elimination of a regional management layer and streamlining corporate overhead and centralized support functions,” according to company documents.

Asked if Hilton Head or Coastal Carolina would see job cuts, spokesperson Lydia Hill declined to provide any details.

“The cost reduction program we announced today includes a number of structural changes in the way we operate, all intended to reinforce accountability, improve agility and speed decision making,” Ronald A. Rittenmeyer, Tenet executive chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We believe these changes will help us drive organic growth, expand margins, and better support our hospitals and other facilities in delivering higher levels of quality and patient satisfaction.”

Tenet Healthcare operates more than 500 hospitals and outpatient centers across the country and is one of the largest for-profit hospital chains in the United States. The company employs 130,000 companywide, so the layoffs will equate to 1 percent of its total workforce.

Last week, sources told Reuters that Tenet ended a process to try to sell itself, following the October departure of its chief executive, Trevor Fetter.

In October 2016, the healthcare company and two of its Atlanta-area subsidiaries paid more than $513 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims relating to a scheme to pay kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals.

The scheme included operations at Hilton Head Hospital, which paid kickbacks to Clinica, a healthcare facility where staff directed expectant mothers living in the U.S. illegally to Hilton Head Hospital as way to increase revenue from Medicaid.

This story was originally published November 1, 2017 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Parent company of Hilton Head, Coastal Carolina hospitals to cut 1,300 jobs."