Nine lose jobs at Regional Health in continued staff shakeup

Nine people lost their jobs this week at Regional Health amid an ongoing staff shakeup instigated last year by a new top executive at the Rapid City-based health system.

Seven full-time and two part-time workers in the Marketing and Public Affairs Department at the hospital in Rapid City were "impacted" by the layoffs on Wednesday, a hospital

official confirmed Thursday.

“Regional Health has restructured its Marketing and Public Affairs
 Department in order to support our business and clinical goals,” said Denise Dancy, communications manager.

The restructuring comes about a month after Regional Health President and CEO Brent Phillips, while speaking to the Black Hills Forum and Press Club, acknowledged significant turnover in the organization since he came on board Jan. 1, 2015. He told the audience that the turnover was related to his efforts to make Regional Health the No. 1 health care system in the nation.

“We’ve had some on our team that have elected not to be a part of that,” Phillips said at the time. “Some said the middle of the road, being on an 8-8 team is fine. They don’t work with us anymore.”

The Journal requested an interview Thursday with Phillips, but Dancy said he was on vacation.

Dancy declined to say how many people remain in the Marketing and Public Affairs Department. 

"We are growing the department as we are restructuring," she said, adding that the employees who lost their jobs Wednesday are welcome to apply for jobs in the restructured department or anywhere else with the Regional Health system.

That seems unlikely based on a Journal interview with one of the affected employees, who declined to speak on the record because the employee received a severance package on the condition that the employee not speak publicly about the situation.

Regional Health, headquartered in Rapid City, describes itself as the largest private employer in western South Dakota. With locations in more than 20 communities, it operates five hospitals and 24 clinic locations and employs nearly 5,000 people.

Contact Seth Tupper at seth.tupper@rapidcityjournal.com