Dive Brief:
- Blue Shield of California will lay off up to 460 employees, effective March 28.
- Included in the cuts are roughly 300 workers in Sacramento and the Central Valley, 80 in the San Francisco Bay area, and 70 in southern California.
- The move was taken to reduce administrative costs, the San Francisco Business Journal reported.
Dive Insight:
Blue Shield told the San Francisco Business Journal that the workforce shakeup will help keep its plans affordable and improve access by “ensuring that we have the right talent, skills and capability to deliver on our strategy.”
Under the plan, 256 jobs are being outright eliminated, and 152 will be refilled to better support the firm’s strategy. No details were provided on the other 52 jobs being cut.
That will leave Blue Shield with about 6,300 workers statewide, some of whom came with Care1st when Blue Shield acquired it last year.
The nonprofit, one of California’s largest health plans, was criticized last year for building up high surpluses, and for failing to provide appropriately affordable coverage and other public benefits, Healthcare Dive previously reported.
A state audit conducted last summer found the company’s operations indistinguishable from for-profit insurers. An August 2014 decision to revoke the payer’s state tax-exempt status was justified.