Massachusetts Department of Public Health officials have begun notifying workers of layoffs as part of an effort to slash payroll and cut 50 jobs.
According to an April 26 staff memo from Commissioner John Auerbach, the proposed fiscal 2012 budget from the House Ways and Means Committee would cut public health spending by $33 million from current levels.
The House plan is $8 million below what Governor Deval Patrick proposed.
In the memo, obtained by the State House News Service, Auerbach told employees the department needed to move ahead with layoffs to meet its budget target based on the spending plan filed by the governor.
“Unfortunately, this means that we will need to implement a reduction in force plan that will result in about 50 involuntary layoffs that will happen over the next week,’’ Auerbach wrote.
“I appreciate that this will be an extremely stressful time for all staff and, in particular, those staff who receive layoff notices.’’
The House added nearly $9 million in public health funding during last week’s budget debate, but a DPH spokeswoman confirmed the addition did not have any implications for layoff plans and said yesterday that the layoff process had begun.
Valerie Bassett, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, said the reductions would be departmentwide, affecting disease prevention, regulatory, environmental, and community health efforts.
“What it means is really losing our ability to monitor and protect, let alone improve, the health of all residents,’’ Bassett said. “I think the timing is such that they have to go forward with these cuts and that is very unfortunate because it’s at the same time when we’re trying to curb medical costs, and a lot of these people are doing work that would do just that.’’
Today, association officials plan to join representatives from Health Care for All and the Boston Public Health Commission to press for passage of a bill sponsored by Representative Jason Lewis, a Winchester Democrat, which would create a state fund that advocates hope will provide a source of revenue for programs that prevent disease and curb overall health costs.
According to Brenda Spillman, Urban Institute senior fellow and coauthor of a January 2011 study published in the American Journal of Public Health, medical costs in Massachusetts could be reduced by nearly $3 billion over the next decade if effective community-based prevention programs were put in place now.
According to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, the original House Ways and Means Committee budget cuts funding for public health programs by 6.5 percent compared to this year’s fiscal budget, and funding for public health services has been cut by more than 20 percent compared to pre-recession levels.
In his memo, Auerbach said laid-off employees could take advantage of an employee assistance program.
