MU Health Care leaders announced today 32 positions have been eliminated across the academic health system’s hospitals and clinics as part of additional cost-saving measures. Eligible employees will receive transition assistance. These actions are being taken to recoup losses from decreased clinical revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a reduction in state funding to the university.

“Like so many other health systems across the country, we have been hit with economic challenges,” said Jonathan Curtright, MU Health Care CEO. “Hundreds of inpatient beds have been unoccupied, non-emergent surgeries have been cancelled, and clinic visits reduced significantly. We are forced to act quickly and decisively to ensure our long-term financial stability and growth moving forward. We have not taken these decisions lightly. Any impact to our workforce is painful for me as a leader and as a colleague.”

This news follows an announcement yesterday that all School of Medicine employees will work with their leaders to map a course for the next three months to take either a one-week furlough or a temporary pay reduction. The academic health system already has taken a number of other measures to find cost savings, including:

• Asking executive leaders across MU Health Care and the MU School of Medicine to take a 10% pay reduction for three months, along with other senior leaders from across the MU campus.
• Suspending travel.
• Halting non-essential expenditures on capital projects.
• Reducing supply costs through standardization.
• Eliminating merit pay increases.
• Ending approximately 70 contracts for agency-contracted, traveling nurses.
• Cancelling more than 300 open positions at MU Health Care and holding or closing another 100 in the medical school.
• Consolidating services where appropriate.