The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Signify Health to lay off 489 people
A Texas-based provider of home health services has told Connecticut officials it will lay off 45 people in its Norwalk office as part of larger multi-state workforce reduction.
A Signify Health official notified the state Department of Labor about the company’s plans in a letter the state agency received on Monday. The company will lay off a total of 489 people in Texas,
South Dakota and New York, as well as Connecticut.
Brad Crain, Signify’s director of employee experience, told state officials the layoffs will begin on Oct. 1. The majority of the layoffs, 342, will involve individuals who are working remotely, according to Crain.
Lynn Shepherd, Signify Health’s vice president of strategic communications, confirmed the number of Connecticut employees who will be affected by the layoffs.
“We informed the state we are undertaking a reduction in force,” Shepherd said in a Thursday email, adding that the company is not closing the Norwalk office. “We are encouraging them to apply to open roles within the company.”
The layoffs are related to last month’s announcement that Signify Health was discontinuing its Episodes of Care Services segment in order to focus on faster growing parts of its business. Company officials said at the time they announced the decision that it was driven by “recent policies implemented by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation” which made continuing to operate in that market segment unsustainable.
The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation was created as part of the Affordable Care Act. Its mission includes designing, implementing, and testing new health care payment models while addressing concerns about rising costs and quality of care.
News of the layoffs comes 18 months after Signify Health completed a $564 million public stock offering.
The layoffs are also being played out against a backdrop in which Rhode Island-based health care giant CVS is reportedly targeting Signify Health as a possible. Health insurance giant Aetna is part of CVS.