Local MedAssets office involved in companywide job cuts

Health-care consultant corporation MedAssets' Cape Girardeau office is being affected by companywide layoffs but will remain open, said an employee who later refused to identify herself.

The employee said the company's Cape Girardeau branch initiated a round of "across-the-board layoffs ... a couple of weeks ago."

She said she could not speak to how many of the people employed at the Cape location would be cut but said the office wouldn't be dissolved entirely.

On Monday morning, the doors were locked at 280 S. Mount Auburn Road, but the lights were on, and people could be seen inside.

The Georgia-based company, whose local office employs about 140, submitted forms to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Sept. 30, announcing its intent to eliminate 180 full-time positions by the end of the year.

The move will decrease its overall workforce by about 5 percent before 2016, records show. The layoffs are expected to save the company more than $20 million annually.

The company's SEC filings also indicate one of the company's locations will be shut down.

"We are affected [by the company-wide reduction plans]. ... We're not closing down; we're just reducing," the Cape Girardeau employee said before referring follow-up inquiries to the voice mailbox of a company spokesperson.

Requests for comment from the Cape Girardeau branch and MedAssets' corporate offices went unanswered. One local employee refused to disclose information when asked about the layoffs, saying, "That's not something we're talking about."

Another employee did not reply to voicemails.

As recently as mid-September, MedAssets' Facebook page showed available job postings. The company's filed plans indicate about $9 million will be spent on one-time termination benefits, most likely in the form of severance packages, benefit continuation and outplacement services.

tgraef@semissourian.com

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