Lawsuit isn't only issue facing Ascension

Layoffs at Ascension Seton

Ascension Seton's parent company Ascension announced Monday it had laid off workers at Ascension sites in Texas. It did not say how many, at which sites or what kinds of jobs were affected. The layoffs were small enough for Ascension Texas to not have to file paperwork with the Texas Workforce Commission.

Ascension Texas, which includes Ascension Seton Central Texas hospitals and Ascension Providence in Waco, said: "The global COVID-19 pandemic has taken a significant operational toll on health systems across the country, and Ascension Texas is no exception.

"We continue to evolve how we deliver care in this challenging environment and further align our strategies and structure to best support patient care initiatives in order to ensure the long-term strength of our organization as we continue to deliver compassionate, personalized care to all. Every effort was made to minimize the impact on patient care at the bedside and we focused primarily on non-clinical support roles."

Contract fight with Blue Cross and Blue Shield

Meanwhile, Ascension Texas has been negotiating with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, the largest private health insurer in Texas. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas is the insurance company for state workers, University of Texas workers and city of Austin workers.

That contract ends on Jan. 31. On Feb. 1, people who have Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas insurance can expect to have to pay out-of-network costs instead of in-network costs at Ascension locations.

That difference can be thousands of dollars in deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums.

Both Ascension Texas and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas said Monday they are still working on negotiating, but didn't have any updates.