Novant Health to slash over 170 jobs in the Carolinas, including in the Charlotte area

Novant Health is laying off 171 employees in the Carolinas, with more than half in the Charlotte region.

The health care company’s layoffs effect 90 workers at 6237 Carolina Commons Drive in Indian Land, S.C., just south of Charlotte, and 81 employees at 101 N. Cherry St. in Winston-Salem, according to Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) notices filed this week in each state. The layoffs are effective Aug. 25.

Impacted jobs include IT department software engineers and developers, analysts and data.

“Each of the employees impacted is receiving a written 60-day notice of their separation dates,” Novant Health human resource officer Alan Flynn said in the notice to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

Novant is Charlotte region’s second largest health care provider, behind Atrium Health.

The layoffs are a continuation of Novant’s shift to a new IT model announced last year where the health care giant outsources some services to external companies, Novant Health said Thursday in a statement to The Charlotte Observer.

Fewer than 300 workers, or less than 0.8% of the nearly 40,000 positions across the health system, are impacted by this change, Novant told the Observer.

Some employees may apply for positions with Novant’s the external companies or other roles within Novant.

Novant’s recent layoffs

The latest round of layoffs is Novant’s second largest in nine years.

In October, Novant Health cut 160 jobs across its network citing a “challenging healthcare environment” and organization redesign “to prioritize direct patient care, operate more efficiently and reimagine how we serve our patients,” The Charlotte Observer reported. Jobs cut included management and administrative roles.

At that time, it was Novant’s biggest round of layoffs since 2015, the Observer reported, when up to 400 people systemwide lost their jobs as part of a reorganization.

Also in March 2023, Novant scaled back some departments eliminating 50 jobs, including executives.

More about Novant

Just last week, Novant Health ended a $320 million plan to buy two Lake Norman hospital systems because of the Federal Trade Commission’s opposition.

In January, the FTC filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina saying the deal would hurt consumers by eliminating competitors and increasing insurance rates.

Novant Health is a nonprofit system that operates 16 medical centers and 800 outpatient facilities and physician office in the Carolinas.