Family Healthcare Network cuts 60 positions Comments 0 | Recommend 4 February 19, 2010 6:55 AM THE RECORDER The largest primary healthcare provider in Tulare and Kings counties is laying off 60 employees as a result of state cutbacks.
In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, Family Healthcare Network administration stated that none of the reductions will directly involve professional providers employed by the organization. It does not state when the layoffs will take effect.
“We have tried to avoid taking this kind of action which has been taken by so many other health care organizations across [California], but the state cuts have just been too much for us to overcome,” FHCN President and CEO Harry Foster said in the release.
All traditional clinic programs, including the Rural Health, Seasonal Agricultural Worker and Expanded Access to Primary Care programs, were reduced or eliminated in September as a result of the state’s fiscal crisis.
In addition, the release states that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also cut many Medi-Cal Optional Benefit programs such as adult dental and chiropractic benefits.
“The organizational restructuring and staff layoffs follow significant state contract and reimbursement cuts sustained by the organization since late last summer,” the release states.
The “restructuring,” Foster said, will allow FHCN to continue providing quality health care to its patients and “develop the capital infrastructure to grow in the future, while adapting to the financial cuts that are continuing to be made by the State of California.”
FHCN currently serves more than 145,000 patients in the two-county area and provided about 450,000 visits last year.
It is one of the largest safety net health care providers in California and has operated clinical sites since 1976.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
