24Hr Homecare LLC, which provides round-the-clock service rotating shifts of caregivers to the poor, is laying off 738 healthcare workers throughout California by the end of September.
The El Segundo-based company said in a recent letter filed with the state Employment Development Department that the layoffs are happening because of the “unexpected end of a material third-party service arrangement and the resulting lack of work.”
Chelsea Pyrzenski, the head of human resources, wrote in the EDD letter that the layoffs, due to begin Sept. 15, affect caregivers working for three large managed public healthcare plans in California.
These include Health Net, a unit of St. Louis-based Centene Corp., serving 3 million members across California, CalViva Health, a Fresno-based health plan with more than 394,000 members under California’s Medi-Cal program in the Central Valley, and Community Health Plan of Imperial Valley, a community-based managed health plan with 95,000 members in Imperial County.
A managed public healthcare plan is government funded — like Medicaid or Medi-Cal — in which the government contracts with private or public organizations to deliver medical services.
A 24Hr Homecare spokesperson wrote in a statement to the Southern California News Group that the cuts were made following benefit reductions in free in-home assistance provided by Health Net.
“We are disappointed by Health Net’s decision and recognize the uncertainty it creates for affected members, caregivers, and their families,” according to the statement.
24HR Homecare is working with Health Net, the California Department of Health Care Services, a state agency that runs health care programs for low-income and disabled residents, and other stakeholders to “mitigate impacts and support continuity of care,” it continues.
The catalyst for the layoffs is coming from passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or HR 1, signed into law last summer by President Donald Trump.
The law is making sweeping cuts of nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, the largest funding reduction in the program’s 60-year history. Medi-Cal — California’s Medicaid program — provides free or low-cost coverage to low-income residents, including families, children, seniors and people with disabilities.
Hospitals across the state already have laid off thousands as the funding cuts trickle down.
Caregivers work in the homes of people needing personalized healthcare services and typically work in shifts out of a client’s home, providing continuous supervision, monitoring and assistance. This could include anything from dressing and grooming a client to meal preparation and laundry.
The layoff filings were made as part of the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act — commonly referred to as WARN, which are required when an employer lays off more than 50 employees.