Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) will cut positions from its workforce amid budget concerns after President Donald Trump signed executive orders in January that prohibited using federal money to fund programs, including Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and as Congress seeks to impose Medicaid eligibility requirements through the Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
VUMC notified the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development last week that it would terminate 615 non-union workers, from multiple Nashville locations, effective on June 27. VUMC later told reporters the total number of cuts would amount to 650 jobs.
“In response to the impact of budgetary actions in Washington, DC related to government-sponsored research and patient care, VUMC is reducing operating costs by more than $300 million and reducing its workforce,” said VUMC, according to WPLN.
The statement noted the cuts amount to less than 2 percent of its workforce, and added that those impacted will receive “severance packages and other assistance.”
VUMC will reportedly save $300 million in its operating budget through various cuts, including the 2 percent reduction in workforce. In March, VUMC previously announced $250 million in cuts.
Trump signed Executive Order 14151 on January 20, requiring all federal offices to terminate all grants or contracts involving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and “environmental justice.”
Executive Order 14173 was signed by the president the following day, revoking previous executive orders that encouraged the federal government to provide grants and contracts based on DEI. Trump declared at the time, “Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.”
VUMC could additionally see less revenue through Medicaid if the Senate passes the Big, Beautiful Bill.
As passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, the legislation would include a $700 billion reduction in Medicaid spending over the next decade, mostly through tightening eligibility requirements to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits, but also by imposing work requirements for able-bodied parents.
U.S. Representative Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-03) recently said the cuts would preserve Medicaid for Americans who need the program.
“It is being looked at in terms of work requirements. It’s tightening up, it is not hurting people. The reality is we’ve got to have certain reforms in place to preserve these programs. We want these programs here for poor Americans,” said Flesichmann. “I want poor people to move up. I want middle class people to move up. And I want people who’ve worked hard and have been able to share the American dream and grow the American dream to do well.”
With more than 3 million visitors annually, VUMC was among the providers where Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale received treatment over her 22-year history as a mental health patient prior to her March 27, 2023, attack on the Christian school she once attended, where she killed six.
An attorney representing the Covenant Children’s Trust, which has claimed ownership over the killer’s voluminous writings, last year declined to comment to The Tennessee Star about whether the trust received financial compensation from VUMC. The Star recently settled its lawsuit against the FBI over the killer’s writings.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
VANDERBILT HAS LOST ITS WAY.
THEY SHOULD GET BACK TO HEALTHCARE & “FIRST DO NO HARM.”
Like most “Healthcare” providers, their mission changed from” FIRST DO NO HARM” to do whatever you can justify under the “AFFORDABLE CARE ACT” AKA OBAMACARE.
The fact that their Board would even contemplate the MUTILATION OF MINORS who are “experiencing confusion” regarding their sex.
Rather than counseling parents that most preteens will have awkwardness in themselves. They may feel their not as pretty or they’re not as strong or some other misconception about their body image. Teach parents how to reinforce their self confidence etc. rather than introducing FEAR in the parents that some drastic action needs to happen, rather than allowing children to go through puberty. Statistics & studies show that most children will make the adjustments naturally. No need for drugs or introducing language or ideas that might terrify unknowing parents of catastrophic consequences like suicide. How BRUTAL & UNPROFESSIONAL. Clearly Marxism has creeped into VANDERBILT Woke Medical School.
I guarantee if Dr Andrew Spickard were still in charge of Medical Training at Vanderbilt, none of this crazy nonsense would be allowed.
We need Christians on the Medical Board, not Marxists.
The mission must be the best Medical Care in the Country, NOT CAUSE A PROBLEM THEN OFFER AN EXPENSIVE “SOLUTION”.
As a native Nashvillian, who was so proud of the historical Vanderbilt, I am mortified at what it has become.
I don’t know if Obama made it a requirement to put Marxists on the Board, and fund a Diversity, Equity Inclusion element throughout the University, in order to get government research grants, but something drastically changed in all our Colleges & Universities in the Country under the Obama Admin. All Communists indoctrinate through academia.
If Vanderbilt must terminate 615 employees, I’d like to know what their jobs included. Was it to enroll people in Medicaid, who shouldn’t be on Medicaid? All so Vanderbilt could rip off the taxpayers?
Maybe there needs to be an audit throughout the Vanderbilt System.
Vanderbilt employs almost as many people as the Metro Government in Davidson County.
They’re that dependent on Federal Dollars?
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