Laid off from PeaceHealth.

What PeaceHealth layoffs have meant for employees

PeaceHealth's push to cut costs predates 2025. It said its 2023 round of cuts, which reached Lane County and Vancouver, was meant to bring $200 million in savings from process improvements, The Lund Report recalled. Since 2025 the cuts have kept reaching the administrative side of the system in Vancouver, Washington. Most positions in the October 2025 cut were non-clinical and administrative roles based there, a spokesperson told Cascadia Daily News, and in February 2026 the paper's February report said the Vancouver headquarters carried a significant part of that round. Sarah Ness, by then chief executive, described that February round as redesigning teams, structures and workflows to create what she called the One PeaceHealth care delivery and service model. If your job is outside Vancouver, the October and February notices both listed Bellingham positions, and February's listed Sedro-Woolley ones too, so distance from headquarters hasn't kept roles off those lists.

The IT move has a precedent in PeaceHealth's own history. In 2017 PeaceHealth announced it would permanently close its outreach laboratory business as Quest Diagnostics acquired the assets, and its February 2017 letter to Oregon said a partnership for Quest to manage the labs inside most of its medical centers would cost positions in PeaceHealth Laboratories too. In 2026 the memo KLCC reported announced plans to hire Tech Mahindra and HCI Group for IT functions while keeping the lead on IT strategy, oversight of cybersecurity and the protection of patient information. Both times PeaceHealth chose to hand day-to-day work to another company while keeping a hand in it, the hospital labs under Quest's management then and IT strategy now. This time PeaceHealth said the caregivers affected would get transition support along with word of available resources and job openings.

Under PeaceHealth's posted contracts for St. Joseph's technical and service unit in Bellingham and OFNHP's units at St. John, taking severance is a trade. The St. Joseph agreement lets an employee whose position is eliminated elect severance under PeaceHealth's policy, and that election waives any further rights in Sections 6.2 and 6.3, which cover placement in comparable vacant jobs, bumping into a same or lower-paid classification and a reinstatement roster of up to 12 months. The St. John contract with OFNHP makes the same trade against its Article 8 and gives seven calendar days from the notice to elect in writing, after which the chance is forfeited, and its severance memorandum notes that under the current policy severance follows a termination with no opportunity for recall. Both leave the policy's terms to PeaceHealth's sole discretion, and St. John's memorandum lets PeaceHealth change or end the policy on its own. If you work in either of those units and are told your position is being eliminated, you could settle early which matters more to you, a severance check or a spot on the recall roster, since the St. John contract gives its election only seven calendar days.

The Eugene closing showed that a layoff and a move offer can come together. PeaceHealth's October 2023 letter said that, at SEIU's request, it was treating the emergency department's caregivers as laid off, even though most were expected to have positions available at RiverBend in Springfield. So being counted as laid off by PeaceHealth hasn't always meant the end of a PeaceHealth job. If a layoff and an offer of another PeaceHealth spot arrive together, that letter shows PeaceHealth itself expected some people to pass on the move. Washington received all three PeaceHealth notices since 2025 that our WARN tracker matches, and Oregon's most recent is this closing, though The Lund Report placed May 2025's cut in Springfield as well as Vancouver. Our pages on Oregon unemployment benefits and Washington's claim process set out what filing looks like in each of the two states.

A sourced history of PeaceHealth layoffs

• July 2026, IT outsourcing to Tech Mahindra announced

  A July 29 memo told caregivers PeaceHealth would hire Tech Mahindra and its U.S. subsidiary, HCI Group, for service desk support and other IT functions, KLCC reported. PeaceHealth confirmed some IT roles would end after November, none of them in direct patient care.

• February 2026, 94 roles set to end across Washington

  PeaceHealth notified Washington on Feb. 11 that 94 roles would end April 12, including 26 in Bellingham and seven in Sedro-Woolley, with its Vancouver headquarters taking a significant portion, Cascadia Daily News reported.

• October 2025, a 2.5% cut aimed at shared services

  Sarah Ness, then the incoming CEO, told staff Oct. 28 that shared services teams would be primarily affected by a 2.5% cut, and data PeaceHealth gave Washington showed 241 positions there from Dec. 27, over 50 in Bellingham, Cascadia Daily News reported.

• September 2025, 18 medical group leadership roles

  PeaceHealth's medical group eliminated 18 leadership roles, a cut that followed May's systemwide reduction, according to Cascadia Daily News.

• May 2025, 1% cut in Springfield and Vancouver

  PeaceHealth announced a 1% workforce cut and a hiring freeze through 2025 in many jobs in a May 22 letter, and The Lund Report put the cut at about 162 people, confined to Springfield and Vancouver facilities, from a fact sheet listing 16,221 caregivers.

• August 2023, University District hospital closing in Eugene

  PeaceHealth told staff in August it would close the University District campus and consolidate at RiverBend in Springfield. Its October 19 letter to Oregon said the emergency department could close Dec. 1 and parts of the campus would be fully closed by Feb. 1, 2024.

• July 2023, Memorial urgent care clinic closing in Vancouver

  PeaceHealth told OFNHP on July 23 that it would close Memorial Health Center by Sept. 30 because the building was degrading and too costly to fix, according to the union, and nearly 30 union-represented workers faced layoff, the Northwest Labor Press reported.

• April 2023, 51 layoffs in the Columbia Network

  PeaceHealth laid off 51 people in its Columbia Network and said it was responding to significant challenges facing health care organizations across the U.S., The Columbian reported.

• February 2017, outreach lab sale to Quest Diagnostics

  PeaceHealth's February 15 letter to Oregon said Quest Diagnostics would acquire its outreach lab business and manage most hospital labs, changes it expected to end about 330 positions around April 30, 186 in Oregon. A second Oregon notice set 85 Riverbend Annex jobs to end May 28, per our WARN tracker.

What to do if you're laid off from PeaceHealth

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. PeaceHealth's biggest hubs: Washington, Oregon. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what PeaceHealth's hub states run: Washington, Oregon, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.