Kaiser to cut 860 information technology jobs (story & video)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/17/BUD016GO3C.DTL

Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Kaiser Permanente is cutting 860 information technology jobs nationwide under a realignment that includes a $500 million deal giving IBM management duties at Kaiser's medical records data centers.

The Oakland health maintenance organization, which has spent as much as $5 billion over the past five years building up its electronic records system, said Monday it has inked a seven-year deal with IBM to maximize the performance of its data processing units.

But the agreement with IBM puts 700 Kaiser jobs in jeopardy at data centers in California and Maryland. Phil Fasano, chief information officer for Kaiser Permanente, said a good portion of those workers could become IBM employees. "Forty percent of those will find jobs in IBM during a transition period of six months," Fasano said.

In a separate action, Kaiser is eliminating an additional 160 information technology jobs scattered across 30 locations as it pares back spending due to the impact of the economic downturn.

"This step is necessary to enable us to operate as efficiently as possible during these extraordinary and challenging times," Fasano said in a statement. "Making decisions like these that affect employees is never easy. However, like many other organizations, due to the slowing of the economy, we are slowing our growth in IT expense."

Of the 700 staffers affected by the IBM deal, 500 work at one of the California data centers, which are located in Pasadena, Corona, Napa, Walnut Creek and Irvine, Fasano said. Kaiser's largest centers are in Pasadena, Corona, Napa, and Silver Spring, Md. About 130 of the 260 employees at the Walnut Creek center will be affected by the job cuts.

FULL story and video at link.