A California consultant sees an increasing link between U.S. hospital layoffs and the Affordable Care Act.
Ken Perez, senior vice president of marketing and director of healthcare policy for Emeryville, Calif.-based MedeAnalytics, was the lead author of an analysis of hospital layoffs from October 2011 through January 2012.
Perez and colleagues identified at least 60 hospital or health system layoffs affecting 4,000 hospital employees during the 15-month period. The layoffs were especially pronounced in California and New York. Medicare reimbursement cuts were cited as the prime culprit.
