57 Providence layoffs include 10 in Richland and other Eastern WA towns

Providence Health has notified the state of Washington that it plans to lay off about 57 employees, including 10 in Eastern Washington, between now and Jan. 20 as hospitals across the country face financial challenges.

The Eastern Washington cuts include two employees at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland, two in Walla Walla and others in Spokane and Liberty Lake.

The Kadlec organization will lose a finance manager and a clinical institute executive director, both working in the Kadlec Corrado Medical Building, according to information provided to the Washington state Employment Security Department.

In Walla Walla, St. Mary Chase Medical Complex will lose a chief nursing officer and St. Mary Medical Center will lose a senior analytics business intelligence engineer.

Employees who are laid off may apply for open positions, according to the Providence notice to the Washington state Employment Security Department.

Last month Kadlec, the largest hospital in the Tri-Cities, announced that it was cutting its therapy staff by the equivalent of 5.5 fulltime jobs.

Job losses included physical, speech and occupational therapy positions at the Kadlec Healthplex in Richland, which provides multidisciplinary care that goes beyond traditional outpatient care.

And in August Kadlec announced it was closing the Kadlec Neurological Resource Center in Richland due to financial pressures on the hospital. It transferred its Healthy Ages program, which included Medicare education, Mall Walkers, End of Life, Vial of Life and monthly wellness programs, to the nonprofit Senior Life Resources Northwest.

WA hospital finances

“Hospitals across the country continue to face significant financial pressures driven by many factors, including rising labor costs, increasing supply expenses and reimbursement rates that have not kept pace with the cost to provide care,” Kadlec said in a statement after the most recent layoff announcement.

In addition, the One Big Beautiful Bill is expected to bring deep cuts to Medicaid and other safety net programs in the near future, Kadlec said.

“Like many health systems navigating this challenging environment, we must make difficult decisions to ensure we are able to continue to provide care for our community for the long term,” Kadlec said.

Decisions that impact caregivers are not made lightly, but the financial pressures facing health care are requiring Kadlec and St. Mary to operate differently, Kadlec said.

“These difficult decisions, while painful, are necessary to ensure long-term sustainability,” it said.

Among other hospitals with layoffs this fall are the Ritzville hospital with 108 employees being let go, PeaceHealth hospitals and clinics in Washington with 241 cuts, Overlake Medical Center and Clinics in Bellevue with 55 layoffs, and Seattle Children’s, which has a Kennewick clinic, with 154 employees cut.

Providence Swedish announced last week that it would cut nearly 300 positions in the Puget Sound.

This story was originally published November 27, 2025 at 12:26 PM.