St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children announces layoffs ahead of federal Medicaid cuts
St. Chris eliminated about 60 positions, but expect half the affected employees to find other jobs at the hospital.
St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children is eliminating about 60 positions, or slightly more than 3% of its jobs, the North Philadelphia safety net institution said Tuesday.
The nonprofit expects about half of the affected employees to find other jobs at St. Chris, which is adjusting operations in response to lower patient volumes and to prepare for Medicaid cuts starting next year.
“To ensure St. Christopher’s can continue serving as an irreplaceable resource for children and families across our region, we have made difficult but necessary operational and workforce changes to strengthen the hospital’s long-term future,” St. Chris said in a statement.
Before the cuts, St. Chris employed 1,868, which means the 30 people expected to lose their jobs amount to less than 2% of the workforce. Tower Health and Drexel University own St. Chris in a 50-50 joint venture. The hospital is expected to break even in the fiscal year that ends next month.
Staffing levels in some departments remained at pre-pandemic levels, Claire Alminde, acting president and chief nursing officer, said in an email to staff. “We need to better align staffing with where the hospital is today,” she said.
The most notable impact on clinical operations is the closure of the St. Chris kidney transplant program, which only performed two of the procedures last year, according to federal data.
St. Chris has received significant financial support from other local healthcare institutions in recent years.
Last year, it also benefited for the first time from inclusion in a program that taxes Philadelphia hospitals and uses the money to increase the government’s Medicaid funding for facilities that disproportionately care for low-income patients. This helped St. Chris to report an operating profit of $1.1 million in fiscal 2025, compared with a $31.6 million loss the year before.
Earlier this year, St. Chris announced its third leadership change in less than two years when it named Alminde, a 37-year veteran of the institution, as acting president.
