Beaumont, Spectrum Health to cut hundreds of jobs

GRAND RAPIDS, MI (Wood) — The recently formed Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health System has announced hundreds of job cuts.

MiBiz reported that the health care system has cut 400 jobs across the state in a move to address rising costs that have hit the health care industry hard this year.

BHSH said the cuts will affect non-clinical management positions. The move comes amid big mid-year losses at Beaumont Health Hospital in southeast Michigan and lower profits at Spectrum Health West Michigan.

Marc Sanchez, senior writer at MiBiz, looked at recent data on whether hospital mergers ultimately save money.

There is a lot of debate about whether health care mergers reduce costs. “There have been some studies, most recently by the American Hospital Association, actually a couple of years ago saying that it really does lead to some improvement and that it actually leads to lower costs,” Sanchez said. “But there are many other studies that have said, not necessarily, that they do not lead to lower administrative costs and in some cases can lead to higher prices.”

Sanchez also said that difficulties in Michigan are beginning to appear throughout the US health care industry.