Health Update: Public hearing for proposed Alameda County health care service reductions – What Experts Say

A controversial plan to cut 188 staff positions across the Alameda Health System will be aired out at a public hearing on Wednesday in Oakland.

Leaders of AHS — the East Bay public health provider that operates Highland Hospital, Eastmont Wellness, Alameda Hospital, San Leandro Hospital, John George Psychiatric Hospital, and other health care centers — have put forth a proposal to lay off staff in anticipation of major reductions in revenue due to H.R. 1, the “Big Beautiful Bill” approved by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump last year.

A plan published in early February on AHS’s website details 188 staff positions that are slated for elimination, most of them currently filled. The cuts would fall on nurses, therapists, counselors, administrative assistants, food service workers, housekeepers, social workers, and many other roles. 

Some programs would be entirely eliminated. Cuts fall especially hard on programs serving people with mental illness.

Highland Hospital’s Outpatient Behavioral Health Wellness Program would see 13 staff positions cut, leading to its closure. The program provides long-term supportive group therapy and individual therapy for people with moderate to severe mental illnesses, and monthly visits with a psychiatrist to monitor medication, according to AHS. Thirty job cuts at the Fairmont Outpatient Behavioral Health Program would lead to its closure. That program currently serves people with moderate to severe mental illness through partial hospitalization and outpatient

AHS officials confirmed in December that they were looking toward layoffs to stabilize their finances, and the health care system’s board of trustees approved a plan to eliminate up to 372 jobs.

Many AHS workers say the cuts aren’t necessary. Unions representing some of the impacted workers say the administration has acted precipitously, without fully consulting stakeholders. At recent AHS trustee meetings, workers and union representatives have criticized the board and management.

“The way AHS management is cutting holes in our community’s safety net is heartbreaking,” Maria Betancourt, a clerk at John George Psychiatric Hospital in San Leandro and a chapter president with SEIU 1021, said in a recent press statement. “Their attempt to address a future budget problem by paying people not to work now makes as little sense as cutting programs that keep people off the streets and out of the emergency room, out of John George, and out of Santa Rita Jail.”

The hearing on Feb. 25 is known as a Beilenson hearing. The county and hospital trustees are required under state law to give the public a chance to hear about planned reductions in health care services and weigh in.

According to a detailed list of the proposed cuts published on Feb. 11 by AHS, job losses would fall heavily on a few programs, including:

• Highland Hospital Outpatient Behavioral Health Wellness Program
• Fairmont Outpatient Behavioral Health Program
• Highland Hospitals Health Advocates program, which helps patients and their families navigate AHS and better access care
• Highland Hospital’s Tele-sitter program, which helps AHS staff remotely monitor patients’ wellbeing while they’re hospitalized
• Fairmont Hospital’s Kitchen Retail program, which provides meals to staff and visitors
• AHS’s ambulatory plastic surgery program
• Highland Hospital’s Complex Care Program, teams of staff who help people with multiple, chronic health issues who frequently need medical services

If the cuts go through, AHS said, each of those programs will be shut down.

The hearing takes place at the Alameda County Administration Building, Board of Supervisors’ Chambers, Fifth Floor, Room 512, 1221 Oak Street, on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m., and is open to the public.