Indiana University Health is cutting about 100 positions, mostly non-clinical leadership roles, as part of a systemwide restructuring.

The Indianapolis-based hospital system said it is transitioning from six regions to four to improve patient care models and better align with future expansion.

The changes come as IU Health pushes ahead with its new, $4.3 billion downtown hospital campus, one of the most expensive construction projects in Indiana history, which is set to be finished in late 2027. The  new hospital, on a 44-acre footprint south of West 16^th Street and North Capital Avenue, will consolidate the existing Methodist and University hospitals, and will feature three 16-story patient towers.

The health care organization is expanding into the Fort Wayne market with a hospital for the first time. It is also expanding its 12-year-old Saxony Hospital in Fishers and renaming it IU Health Fishers.

The restructuring, announced Friday, comes about two weeks after the health system reported  $173 million in operating income for the first nine months of 2024, a 32% decrease from the same period a year ago.

An IU Health spokeswoman said the job cuts were not a cost-cutting exercise, but rather made to improve “organizational design and effectiveness.”

“Mostly non-clinical leadership roles will be eliminated,” the spokeswoman, Lisa Tellus, told IBJ by email on Monday. “While team members in eliminated roles may find open positions in the organization, we anticipate 100 separations due to this change.”

IU Health notified employees last week of job eliminations. Affected employees will have a “fully paid consideration period” through Dec. 28.

“If an impacted team member does not find or accept a new role at IU Health by the end of the paid consideration period, then severance along with the option to receive paid outplacement services will begin,” Tellus said.

The organization, with 17 hospitals and 38,000 employees, is one of the largest hospital organizations in Indiana, and is the third-largest employer in the state.

IU Health said it expects the new regional structure to be in place by January. The four new regions are:

• West, including Arnett, Frankfort, White Memorial and Tipton hospitals
• East, including Ball Memorial, Fort Wayne (under construction) and Jay hospitals
• South, including Bedford, Bloomington, Morgan and Paoli hospitals
• Metro, including North, Saxony, West, University, Methodist and Riley hospitals

The six previous regions were the Academic Health Center (downtown), Indianapolis Suburban, South Central, West Central, East Central and Northeast regions.

IU Health said the change will drive operational efficiency and consistency across the system, while maintaining connections to the communities it serves.

“We are adjusting our regional structure to strengthen our clinical care models and effectiveness, to improve talent pipelines and career pathways for team members, and to continue making investments in technology—all with the aim of advancing patient care,” IU Health CEO Dennis Murphy said in written remarks.

IU Health said the restructuring will focus on strategic priorities to improve decision-making, talent development and cost structure “while creating flexibility to support future growth as IU Health  navigates the next decade of evolving health care needs.”

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