SMS
RSS feeds
Reddit
NewsvineStanford Medical Center announced last week that it would lay off 200 workers at its 3375 Hillview Ave. outreach laboratory — just a year and a half after hundreds of workers were moved into the brand new lab.
Enlarge
Stanford’s outreach business is being acquired by Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp); executives from LabCorp told analysts that the deal is expected to close by Aug, 1. The building will continue to be owned by Stanford, but LabCorp will take over the lab’s outreach practice, which consists of basic services and tests done for private companies.
“Approximately 200 employees received [layoff] notices and, to date, over half have been hired or offered positions by LabCorp — and we expect that number to grow,” said Gary Migdol, medical center director of communications. “In addition, outreach lab employees who have expressed a desire to remain at SHC are given priority consideration for open positions within both Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.”
But not all employees have been offered assignments from LabCorp or Stanford — and this has led to some animosity between laboratory workers and the Hospital.
“When [the laboratory] first opened, Stanford publicized it as a successful enterprise that would create lots of business,” said Myriam Escamilla, assistant trustee for the United Healthcare Workers, a local union representing Stanford Hospital workers. “Workers transferred there because they hoped for great things. The problem now is that with the transfer, it is not the hospital, but rather the workers who pay the price for failure.”
Workers are now feeling betrayed by the hospital, Escamilla said, because layoffs are coming so soon after the transfers.
Complicating matters further, Escamilla’s union does not represent any of the 3375 Hillview laboratory workers. Under the contract of United Health Care Workers with Stanford Hospital and Clinics, only employees working on the footprint of Stanford Medical Center can be represented by the union. Members who transferred to the Hillview laboratory had to withdraw from the union in order to work there.
“About 100 workers who transferred were union members,” Escamilla said. “When we first heard of the news from several workers, they were very disappointed and wanted to see if organizing could help prevent their layoffs. However, the union had no jurisdiction over non-union members so we couldn’t assist them.”
When it first opened in February 2007, the Hillview laboratory was advertised as a cutting-edge facility that would provide the newest testing services with increased space, improved efficiency and important innovation. One and a half years later, Stanford’s outreach business is being sold because it has failed to become economically viable for the hospital. Officials would not comment if the sale was directly related to the hospital’s plans for expansion in the near future.
“This decision was made only after a thorough review of all aspects of the basic clinical outreach lab, including the business, market and financial status of the services provided,” Migdol said. “There were concerns about the financial viability of the basic outreach lab. After several years of net losses, SHC had to make the tough decision to sell the basic part of the outreach laboratory business.”
But the sale won’t affect patient care, hospital officials stressed. The center will continue to provide basic, as well as specialized, laboratory testing services to ensure that patients are treated with the utmost care and attention.
“An important point to remember is that there will be no impact on Stanford Hospital inpatients or outpatients,” Migdol said.