LAYOFFS: NO LOVE AT ALTEON

Germantown, Maryland-based Alteon Health, a provider of emergency medicine, hospitalist medicine, critical care, post-acute care and virtual and home health staffing and services, has announced changes on its compensation plan in spite of the overwhelming demand for personnel to respond to the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic.

It appears that many staffing companies are losing revenue as elective procedures are canceled and attention is refocused on the care of COVID-19 patients. And reimbursements from major insurers are delayed as a portion of the claims processing workforce transitions to a working from home program.

In response, Alteon has circulated a memo announcing the changes.

"The memo announced that the company would be reducing hours for clinicians, cutting pay for administrative employees by 20%, and suspending 401(k) matches, bonuses and paid time off." According to Alteon CEO Steve Holtzclaw, "Despite the risks our providers are facing, and the great work being done by our teams, the economic challenges brought forth by COVID-19 have not spared our industry." "Holtzclaw indicated that the measures were temporary but didn’t know how long they would last."

Alteon Health is funded by Seattle, Washington-based Frazier Healthcare Partners, a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in the healthcare industry.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? IS THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL AT ABBOTT (07/08/22)

JULY 8, 2022 — 400 LAYOFFS AT RAPID-ANTIGEN KIT FACILITIES

The company has announced a reduction in force at facilities that produce rapid antigen tests for Covid-19.

400 full-time employees at its locations in Westbrook, Maine (310), and Scarborough, Maine (90) will be impacted.

According to a company spokesperson, “We’ve recently seen a significant, rapid decline in COVID-19 testing demand and anticipate this trend will continue. Because of this, we are reducing our workforce that produces rapid tests in Westbrook and Scarborough. These sites will continue to play an important role in manufacturing tests for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases around the world. We’re grateful for the contributions our workers in Maine made to our country during the pandemic.”

APRIL 3, 2020 — Original Post…

With the availability of a fast, point-of-care test for the COVID-19 virus, it is possible that the government, federal, state, or local, may require an individual to be tested before returning to work. One to prevent further spread of the insidious disease, and two, to estimate the number of employees who might be infected or re-infected if a suitable vaccine is not found.

The good news is that the Lake Bluff, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories, major medical devices, and health care technology company, has announced that it has been granted conditional emergency use FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval to field its new COVID-19 test.

This is the "fastest available molecular point-of-care test for the detection of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), delivering positive results in as little as five minutes and negative results in 13 minutes. The test will run on the company's ID NOW platform, providing rapid results in a wide range of healthcare settings such as physicians' offices, urgent care clinics, and hospital emergency departments."

The ID NOW platform is small, lightweight (6.6 pounds) and portable (the size of a small toaster), and uses molecular technology, which is valued by clinicians and the scientific community for its high degree of accuracy. ID NOW is already the most widely available molecular point-of-care testing platform in the U.S. today. -Abbott will be making ID NOW COVID-19 tests available next week to healthcare providers in urgent care settings in the U.S., where the majority of an estimated 18,000 ID NOW instruments are in use today.

A more comprehensive test is fast becoming available for use in hospitals and clinical laboratories using the company's Abbott m2000 RealTime SARS-CoV-2 EUA test, which runs on the m2000 RealTime System located in hospitals and reference labs around the world.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?

AM I NEXT? NO LOVE AT PHILLIPS (12/21/21)

DECEMBER 21, 2021 — GAINSVILLE, FLORIDA UPDATE — INVIVO POSITIONS OUTSOURCED TO PUNE, INDIA

Gainesville, Florida-based Invivo Diagnostic Imaging, a division of Phillips North America specializing in MRI devices used in medical diagnostic imaging, has announced a major reduction in its manufacturing workforce at its Gainesville Florida Facility.

The permanent layoffs will affect 530 employees and will be implemented in phases beginning with the first 330 employees on December 31, 2021, and the remaining 200 employees in February and March 2022.

The production and repair of the facility's magnetic resonance imaging coils are being outsourced to Phillip's expanded manufacturing facility in Pune, India. It appears that Invivo Gainesville will become the center of Philips’ magnetic resonance coil design and advanced development.

From a previous statement, “As part of Philips’ industrial footprint strategy to create fewer, bigger manufacturing sites per region, the company is closing some of its smaller manufacturing sites and focusing on research and design at those locations, while expanding its larger sites.

NOVEMBER 6, 2021 — 330 LAYOFFS IN GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA

The company has notified the State of Florida that it intends to lay off 330 workers by the end of March 31, 2022, with the first group of 49 layoffs in Gainesville, Florida scheduled for December 31, 2021. The layoffs appear to be mostly professional-level engineering employees.

APRIL 2, 2020 — Original post…

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Phillips North America, one of the largest electronics companies now focusing on health technology, has announced that it will be laying off 20 employers in its Andover, Massachusets office. The layoffs are scheduled for May 2020.

According to a company spokesperson,"This action is based on a previously-announced transition of part of our patient monitoring and analytics operations in Andover, dating from September 2018. The positions were to be transferred to the company's operations in Reedsville Pennsylvania.

Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?