Insurers plan more layoffs, claim center closures

Spokesmen for both Aetna and Humana say the company-wide cutbacks will not affect services to physicians.

By Robert Kazel, AMNews staff. Jan. 13, 2003.

Two of the country's largest health plans are laying off employees.

Louisville, Ky.-based Humana Inc. said in December 2002 it would cut 2,300 jobs, or 17% of its employees, with the layoffs taking full effect by the end of this year.

Included in those cutbacks will be the closing of customer service centers in San Antonio; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Madison, Wis., with a resulting layoff of up to 1,000 workers. The centers will likely close by June, said Dick Brown, Humana spokesman.

Other layoffs will take place throughout the company.

Although the service centers take calls from doctors, new technology designed to route calls more efficiently will mean the staff cuts won't result in longer waiting times for doctors using the call centers, Brown said.

"It should be seamless," he said. "They should absolutely see no difference in service."

Many doctors also are making use of interactive voice response when they call the centers instead of speaking to a person, he said. Others increasingly are using the Internet to verify patient membership and file claims, Brown said.

Also in December 2002, Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna announced its intention to lay off about 690 workers, the latest in a series of large cutbacks that started in 2002. Aetna announced cuts of about 10,000 workers during 2002; it will have about 27,500 workers by the time all of last year's layoffs take effect.

"Our cost structure is still somewhat higher than our competitors'," said Fred LaBerge, Aetna spokesman, who added that the latest layoffs affect most areas of the company.