UM’s Medical School To Lay Off Up To 800

Upwards of 800 people will lose their jobs under a “major restructuring” at the University of Miami medical school in the coming months, per UM’s president Donna Shalala.

The reason is understandable. State budget cuts, less research money, lower compensation from insurers and cutbacks in payments by Jackson Health System, according to President Shalala.

“It’s not a great situation,” Shalala said, “but at the end of the day, we’ll be a much stronger health care system of a much higher quality because we will be able to reinvest in health care delivery. … We’ve moved this institution to new heights. The world is changing beneath our feet.”

Employees will be notified this month and the cutback is the largest by any employer in the state since Jackson announced 920 layoffs in February.

Most of the layoffs are in the research and administration fields. About 150 people who schedule appointments will lose their jobs, as well as 150 in research administration and 110 researchers.

In the past year, the medical school lost about $8M in state funding and upwards of $16M in payments from Jackson.

Recently consultants from PricewaterhouseCoopers were brought in to study UM’s medical school operation, finding “duplication” in some administrative, which according to Shalala, is a reason UM, from top to bottom, will take “a whole layer out”.

There’s much more to this story, for those who care to read up on it. The point of posting in this blog was to merely offer our condolences to the many members of this U Family who will soon be out of work. These are people with families, mortgages and heart. The loss of one’s job or career is right up there with the effects of death and divorce. It’s stressful, it shatters your self-worth and it leave you feeling helpless and alone.

From all of us at allCanes, we wish you the best in your future endeavors and hope all of you land on your feet.

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