Bayada Lays Off 10% Of Headquarters Staff, Citing Reimbursement Challenges

Bayada Home Health Care — one of the largest U.S. providers of home-based care — has reduced its headquarters staff by 10%, or roughly 100 jobs.

The company stated that the layoffs are the result of operating in a difficult reimbursement environment.

“While Bayada is stable, strong and growing, we operate in a challenging environment where the costs of providing care are growing faster than the ability of governments and insurance companies to pay for that care,” the company said in a statement. “This requires us to be more efficient and intentional in how we work, so we can continue serving our clients now and well into the future.”

Bayada provides home health, home care, hospice and behavioral health care services in 23 states, as well as in several other countries. The company also has international locations, operating in Germany, India, Ireland, New Zealand and South Korea. Overall, Bayada has about 32,000 employees nationwide.

The jobs impacted by the layoffs included Bayada’s operational and administrative support across the organization. The company’s statement confirmed that no roles in its service offices or care delivery teams were affected.

Bayada is offering financial support, health benefit stipends and personalized transition assistance to employees who were laid off, according to the company.

“This was one of the hardest decisions we’ve had to make as an organization,” David Baiada, CEO of Bayada, said in the statement. “And yet it reflects our responsibility to be thoughtful stewards of our mission, and to protect the clients we serve for the next 50 years and beyond.”

Bayada’s recent layoffs aren’t the first time the company has gone on the record about the challenging reimbursement landscape facing providers.

On a HHCN+ TALKS episode last year, Michael Johnson, chief researcher of home care innovation at Bayada, described the home health payment landscape as “uncertain.” He named Medicare payment cuts from CMS, audit scrutiny, staffing and the political environment as contributing factors.

Bayada has been one of the more active home-based care companies in terms of advocacy. Last year, David Totaro, chief government affairs officer at Bayada, explained the importance of standing up for the industry as a whole.  

“Our schedule has always been go-go-go,” he said on an episode of HHCN’s Disrupt podcast. “There is no stop and go with advocacy. Consistency is what really matters. One of the things that we’ve learned over the last six to nine months is that our role as providers is to change the narrative from a discussion about cost and cuts to a narrative about why or how these cuts are going to impact the lives of our legislators’ constituents.”

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