Posted on 11/19/2012 12:01:10 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Bad news for GE Healthcare workers in Vermont. The company, which specializes in information technology for the healthcare industry, announced last Thursday that it plans to lay off about 10 percent of its workforce in the state. The company promised, however, to try to find alternate roles for those who lose their jobs.
While GE Healthcare regrets the loss of any jobs, the business needs to make tough decisions in the current economic climate, company spokesman Benjamin Fox told the Barre Montpelier Times Argus.
Its unclear at this time how much of GE Healthcares workforce these cuts represent, though the Burlington Free Press reported that in January, GE Healthcare employed about 527 people.
The companys South Burlington, Vermont facility was founded as the medical software producer IDX Systems. GE Healthcare bought IDX in 2005 for $1.2 billion.
Vermont Deputy Commerce Secretary Patricia Moulton Powden called the job losses at GE Healthcare tragic, but noted that there are other high-tech companies in the area looking for talented employees.
The only silver lining is we have a lot of employers looking for this kind of talent, said Moulton Powden.
Earlier this month, the healthcare giant posted profits of $620 million on sales of $4.31 billion during the three months ended September 30, for a bottom-line gain of two percent but a top-line dip of 0.6 percent, compared with the same period last year. Layoffs have been common as of late across the entire medical devices industry.
But I’m reading workers are “relieved” to lose their jobs. The new normal is failure.
Indeed the free lunch bunch just got slapped in the back of the head.
Did Mitt get any votes in a state that has a socialist senator? Oh well...
Wasn’t the GE pres Obam’s Jobs czar? Wow, more hopeium for everyone
Suck it, socialists!
How can GE Healthcare lose money today? Huge buckets of federal money are being spent by the feds and the states setting up the exchanges. A well connected company like GE ought to be able to scoop up lots of those dollars easily. If the states don’t go along, Zero will just write an HHS reg that requires they use GE. There’s something fishy about this.
Ironic, considering that GE is/was a huge Obama supporter.
Much of their medical services division is moving to China. This after their CEO was involved as an Obama “jobs czar”.
Federal money for the exchanges has nothing to do with what GE Healthcare does. They sell software. The exchanges will broker insurance.
Originally this was IDX Systems, bought by GE in 2005. I’ve been to their headquarters (before GE). Our company has developed interfaces with their systems. GE is a pain in the butt to work with by the way. Much better before GE took over.
I work in IT at a hospital.
GE has to be the absolute WORST vendor we’ve ever dealt with over the years. The quality of their work has always been pretty good for us, but they are SUCH assholes, and look to squeeze every last dollar they can out of you. They are very similar to interacting with a .gov agency.
As a result, we avoid dealing with them when at all possible. We have phased out just about everything they’ve had at our facilities.
I came into work today and 30% of the office had been let go. No word why.
BTW, my late father was a retired Gunnery Sergeant (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) Commo Chief.
I work at a major hospital and we just ended our business with IDX. IDX billed our Physician fee’s. We are now using EPIC which has the capability to bill both the Physician and Hospital bills.
Our hospital was a major loss to IDX. Many other hospitals have switched to EPIC as well.
“Federal money for the exchanges has nothing to do with what GE Healthcare does. They sell software. The exchanges will broker insurance.”
Lots of healthcare software involved in that. Lots. I’ve read the Colorado grant applications. Besides, what does relevance to the subject have to do with pork?
They're not.
They're not much better as an employer either: I spent fourteen years at GE Aircraft Engines (in a non union shop) during the Jack Welch years. That's 5,110 days of wondering if today was going to be your last day of employment even though profits were going through the roof and the stock had split three or four times.
To their credit, their 401k stuff made a lot of hourly workers millionaires before Immelt ran it into the ground.
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