Top Boston hospital seeks 1,600 buyouts

BOSTON — One of Boston’s most prestigious teaching hospitals is offering voluntary buyouts to 1,600 employees as a way to rein in costs during a period of uncertainty in the health care business.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital said Thursday that the hospital is offering buyouts because expenses continue to rise and “constraints by government and payers” are keeping revenues flat, “negatively affecting” the hospital’s finances.

Hospital officials said layoffs are possible depending on how many people accept a buyout.

Workers must be 60 or older to be eligible for the offer, which includes a year of base pay. Physicians, faculty and research staff are excluded.

Brigham and Women’s, a 793-bed affiliate of Harvard Medical School, is a founding member of Partners HealthCare, the largest health network in Massachusetts. It employs about 16,000 people.