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Baylor Scott & White Health, the largest nonprofit hospital system in Texas, announced today it will lay off roughly 1,200 employees—or about 3% of its workforce—as a result of the pandemic.
"We worked to reassure and safeguard our people through the uncertainty as we prepared for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients, yet experienced a drastic drop in visits, largely due to the suspension of non-urgent surgeries and procedures," the company said in an emailed statement.
Patient volume is recovering—in-person and telemedicine clinic visits are at roughly 95% of pre-COVID levels, hospital admissions are at roughly 92% and operating room cases are around 97%—but it is not enough to offset the financial losses.
"While patient volumes are steadily increasing, we remain in a financial recovery period during which we must plan for continued unpredictability," per the statement.
The layoffs accompany other changes, including temporary pay cuts for senior executives and physicians and staff furloughs.
Pre-pandemic, BSW Health committed to raising the hourly rate for 12,000 nurses and staff, which it will honor beginning next month.
Baylor Scott & White has several clinics in the Austin area, including a downtown location on Cesar Chavez Street, and medical centers in Southwest Austin, Pflugerville and Lakeway.
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Due to shipping delays, allocations of the Pfizer vaccine scheduled to be distributed in Texas on Monday will now arrive on Tuesday.
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The Texas Department of State Health Services will allocate 333,650 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to 260 providers this week, with the bulk assigned to hub providers that are focused on widespread community distribution events. Eight of those providers are in Travis County.
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By Sami Sparber
Texas-based anti-vaccine organization Informed Consent Action Network was among five anti-vaccine groups that collectively received more than $850,000 in federal loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the Washington Post reported Monday. The organization received $166,000 in May 2020, according to founder Del Bigtree.