(The Center Square) – Seattle Children’s Hospital is set to lay off 154 workers, with cuts in federal funding getting the blame for the upcoming dismissals.
The 154 cuts represent roughly 1.5% of the hospital’s total number of employees. According to a Seattle Children’s spokesperson, 133 administrative roles are set to be cut, representing 86% of total layoffs. Out of the remaining 21 cuts to staff, 15 have regular contact with patients, but do not provide care. The remaining six are care providers.
Seattle Children’s Hospital announced it will also eliminate 350 open roles.
The hospital points to the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act for the layoffs. The act cuts Medicaid reimbursements to hospital systems across the U.S., which were made to address ballooning costs and inefficiencies in the Medicaid system.
“Seattle Children’s is facing significant financial impacts due to hundreds of millions of dollars in anticipated state and federal funding cuts,” a spokesperson emailed The Center Square. “As a result, we are making some difficult but necessary decisions to secure Children’s future and protect our ability to deliver compassionate care and life-saving research.”
In 2024, roughly 1.2 million people were enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP across multiple states, and another 1.6 million people were enrolled in both Medicaid and subsidized Affordable Care Act exchange plans; errors that cost the federal government an estimated $14 billion annually.
Other hospitals in Washington are anticipating impacts of cuts to Medicaid in the coming fiscal year. This includes Harborview, Washington state’s largest public hospital, which could see its operating margin drop despite a successful fiscal year 2025.
A significant portion of hospitals’ funding stems from federal Medicaid direct payments and one-time state appropriations. In the case of Washington, the state is planning to spend $42 billion on Medicaid in the 2025-27 biennium, with $26 billion coming from the federal government.
The planned layoffs at Seattle Children’s Hospital are set to go into effect on Nov. 15.
