Geisinger is eliminating nearly 100 Geisinger Health Plan positions as part of an "operational restructuring" amid financial challenges in recent years that include a $231 million operating loss last year.
President and CEO Dr. Terry Gilliland, who announced the cuts Tuesday in a message to all employees, said there are no other staff reductions in the Geisinger system.
"In fact, we’re currently recruiting for approximately 2,500 open positions systemwide," Gilliland wrote.
He cited the health plan's struggles in a market "dominated by large competitors."
"Our reimbursements, particularly from Medicare, don’t cover the cost of the care GHP members receive. Prescription drug cost increases continue to accelerate, and the people we care for in rural Pennsylvania tend to be older and sicker with complex healthcare needs," Gilliland said.
Geisinger Health Plan was launched in 1972 as a rural, prepaid health plan offered to Geisinger Medical Center employees and residents of the five counties surrounding Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
Today the plan has over 550,000 members and employed about 1,200 people before the layoffs.
Gilliland said he expects many impacted GHP employees will "transition into new roles" within Geisinger.
Geisinger system expanding overall
Nonprofit Danville-based Geisinger has a substantial footprint across the region: 163 care sites, including 10 hospital campuses; the Geisinger College of Health Sciences, which educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually; the Geisinger Health Plan; and over 27,000 employees, including 1,800 physicians and 5,200 registered nurses.
The system is in the process of expanding overall.
In May Geisinger officials ceremonially broke ground on an $880 million expansion and modernization project at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
The Danville project follows on the heels of a nearly $900 million expansion project at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township, Luzerne County.
Geisinger also has embarked on other noteworthy improvements such as a new medical specialty building on the Plains Township campus and a new cancer center in Dickson City.
Those aren't the only major changes in recent years.
Geisinger in 2024 was acquired by Washington, D.C.-based Risant Health, a nonprofit created by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals to expand access to “value-based care and ultimately acquire other community-based health systems.
And this year, Geisinger was identified by State Rep. Bridget Kosierowski (D-Waverly) as one of three frontrunners in the monthslong fight to save for-profit Community Health Systems’ struggling Scranton hospitals.
Geisinger has alluded to its involvement in the negotiations but has not confirmed its status as a potential buyer.
GHP 'still operating at a loss'
Against that backdrop, Geisinger Health Plan continues to struggle, however.
"While the plan is performing much better this year, it’s still operating at a loss," Gilliland said.
"GHP is an integral part of our system, and it’s critical that we achieve financial stability," he said, calling the staff reductions "necessary to ensure that GHP continues to be a valued local participant in the health insurance market."
"The good news is that when we combine the resources and capabilities we have in our clinical enterprise with GHP, we have the opportunity to change the trajectory of GHP’s rising cost of care," Gilliland added.
