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Providence Health is cutting community healthcare

Together we can stop them

Since taking over St. Joseph Health’s Northern California hospitals a decade ago, Providence has laid off caregivers, eliminated critical services, and forced patients to pay bills they can’t afford.

But healthcare workers in Napa, Sonoma, and Humboldt counties are fighting back to safeguard patient care in their communities.

More than 2000 workers are bargaining new contracts that will:

  • Restrict Providence’s ability to reduce, outsource, and cut services in our community.

  • End the severe understaffing of Providence medical services.

  • Make Providence keep up with regional competitors, like Kaiser and Sutter, so dedicated caregivers stay at Providence serving their communities.

"As a proud Humboldt County resident, it's painful to see how Providence keeps cutting services like our acute rehab unit, that my friends and neighbors have depended on for years. This isn't just a fight for a new contract; it's a fight to keep care in our community.."
Willow Svien
Willow SvienOccupational Therapist, Providence St. Joseph Eureka
"When my husband was diagnosed with cancer, we had to fight just to get the scans he needed. No one in our community should have to go through that. My coworkers and I are committed to providing the best possible care, and that's why we're fighting for a contract that will force Providence to provide the staffing and resources to make that happen."
Tammy Laughren
Tammy LaughrenPBX Operator, Queen of the Valley
"Providence has done three things since taking over Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital: Cut services, lay off workers, and make tens of millions of dollars that go to its corporate offices in Washington State. As Providence caregivers, we're banding together to improve staffing and safeguard care, but it's going to take all of us to make Providence care about our community as much as we do."
Billie Jean Barton
Billie Jean Barton Patient Scheduler, Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital
"As a nurse of 27 years, I remember when we were still St. Joseph, and there was a sincere commitment to doing the right thing for the people in our community. Under Providence, it's all about profit at the expense of patients. We know it's going to be hard to change Providence's approach, but all of us see what's happening and we're determined to uphold our commitment to the communities we serve."
Christina Groverman
Christina Groverman RN, Hospice of Petaluma

Providence Health

Slashing Services, Cheating Patients

Systematic closures: Providence cuts community care, keeps corporate cash

2025

Reduction in cardiac services in Humboldt:

Providence is drastically reducing the availability of open heart surgery by not replacing the only cardiothoracic surgeon in Humboldt County.

Feb 2025

Santa Rosa Urgent Care:

Providence closed the only urgent care center in Santa Rosa that was available to all patients regardless of insurance type.

Nov 2024

Acute Rehab Unit, Eureka:

Patients in need of specialized rehab services forced to drive fours to Santa Rosa or Napa, far from family and community.

Nov 2024

End of Medical Referrals, Humboldt County:

Patients whose doctors aren’t part of Providence’s in-house medical group will have to travel four hours to Santa Rosa for many special procedures.

March 2024

Sale of Outpatient Lab services:

Providence closed all of its Northern California outpatient labs, selling some to Labcorp, the “Wal-Mart” of testing labs.

May 2023

Petaluma Labor & Delivery:

Providence left expecting moms in a maternity desert by closing the birthing center in violation of its agreement to buy the hospital.

2022

Rohnert Park
Urgent Care:

Providence closed the urgent care center in the Sonoma County city of Rohnert Park.

July 2021

Redwood Memorial Birth Center, Fortuna:

Expecting moms are now forced to drive across the county for emergency care.

Diminished Care

Providence is the dominant hospital and healthcare provider in Napa, Sonoma, and Humboldt counties, but despite a history of strong profits, and $8 billion in reserves, it’s slashing medical services and understaffing its hospitals.

Sonoma
County

Providence has sold off outpatient labs, laid off workers, closed a regional birthing center, and cut ICU hours.

Humboldt
County

Providence has sold off outpatient labs, closed a rural birthing center, and is now closing the county’s only acute rehab center.

Napa
County

Providence has sold off outpatient labs and laid off emergency room workers.

In a union survey, 54 percent of Providence workers reported that there usually is not enough staff to provide appropriate and timely care.

Charity Care Shortfalls

As a tax exempt hospital operator Providence must provide free “charity” care for qualifying patients. But Providence has:

  • Spent more than twice as much on executive salaries over the past four years than it has on charity care in Northern California.

  • In 2023 Providence’s NorCal hospitals devoted only 2 percent to charity care.

  • Between 2020 and 2023, Providence paid an average of $43.4 million in executive compensation and an average of $20 million in charity care at its Northern California hospitals.

Hounding Patients

In 2022, the New York Times* documented how Providence hired McKinsey & Company to help “wring money out of patients, even those eligible for free care,” prompting the State of Washington to file a lawsuit against Providence.

To the settle the lawsuit, Providence agreed to: 

  • Forgive $137.2 million in medical debt
  • Refund patients $20.6 million
  • Provide debt refunds or refunds to 99,446 patients

*As reported by

"In interviews, patients… who qualified for free care said they had been charged thousands of dollars and then harassed by collection agents. Many saw their credit scores ruined. Others had to cut back on groceries to pay what Providence claimed they owed."
Harriet Haffner-Ratliffe, 20, gave birth to twins at a Providence hospital in Olympia, Wash., in 2017. She was eligible under state law for charity care. Providence did not inform her… One day, her boyfriend walked into their apartment and found her surrounded by bills, crying. When she fell behind on the payments, Providence dispatched a debt collector to pursue her.
“I felt a little betrayed,” said Bev Kolpin, 57, who had worked as a sonogram technician at a Providence hospital in Oregon. Then she went on unpaid leave to have surgery to remove a cyst. The hospital billed her $8,000 even though she was eligible for discounted care, she said. “I had worked for them and given them so much, and they didn’t give me anything.”
“And, as Providence illustrates, some hospital systems have not only reduced their emphasis on providing free care to the poor but also developed elaborate systems to convert needy patients into sources of revenue. The result, in the case of Providence, is that thousands of poor patients were saddled with debts that they never should have owed, The Times found”
"Previously, when treating patients who were on Medicaid, Providence eventually waived any outstanding portion of their bill. In 2019, Providence stopped doing that. Medicaid patients were sent to debt collectors instead."

The Headlines

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Organizing To Victory!

The surest way to make Providence do right by its workers and patients is through worker power. Over the past decade, California-based Providence workers, represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, have protected jobs, halted Providence’s expansion and won big raises.

Support Providence Workers

I support Providence workers who are fighting for a contract that will keep healthcare services in their communities and safely staff Providence hospitals and hospice programs.

Are you a Providence worker?

Organize with NUHW to protect services, improve staffing, and win better working conditions.
Learn more >>