MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Sister companies Raytel Cardiac Services Inc. and Philips Remote Cardiac Services plan to cut 85 jobs from a cardiac monitoring unit in Windsor, Conn.
The companies plan to cut work related to cardiac monitoring of pacemakers, but will keep 200 employees primarily focused on monitoring irregular heartbeats.
"After a detailed, careful analysis, we decided to discontinue this business for two reasons," Joon Knapen, a spokesman for Philips Healthcare, told The Hartford Courant. Knapen cited Medicare’s 2009 reimbursement regulation changes and shifting pacemaker technology as the primary reasons for the cuts.
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Most of the companies’ pacemaker monitoring business use phone lines to test pacemakers. Newer implants are wireless, a service Raytel and Philips don’t provide.
The layoffs will take place between February and April 2012, though some workers could remain in their positions until June.
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