Officials: UMC layoffs to save $12M

Wednesday's layoff of 115 University of Mississippi Medical Center employees and not filling another 90 positions will save $12 million annually, the vice chancellor for health affairs predicts. UMC's finances were in the red last year, a predicament that motivated the staff reduction, Dr. James Keeton said. "It is imperative that we align our costs with our revenues," Keeton said in a news release. "We have no other option." UMC, which employs more than 9,000, operates on an annual budget of $1.3 billion, of which 11 percent is funded by the state, mostly to support education. It is the state's only public medical school.