Gateway Health Plan to lay off 100 workers in Western Pa., West Virginia

Gateway Health Plan is laying off 100 people in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia in July because one of its clients opted not to renew state-managed Medicaid contracts, officials said Friday.

The Downtown Pittsburgh-headquartered insurance company filed a WARN notice with the state Department of Labor and Industry alerting officials to its plan to ax the jobs between July 15 and July 29, state records show.

State law requires organizations to notify the department of mass layoffs at least 60 days in advance.

“This notice issuance by Gateway is required by law given the resulting employment impacts to those Gateway employees working on the (West Virginia Family Health) contract,” Gateway Health spokesperson Shelley Risk said in a statement. “Some of the employees impacted will be in West Virginia and some will be in Pennsylvania.”

Gateway, which is partly owned by Highmark, specializes in insuring people with Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care plans, with more than 550,000 clients across six states.

In early April, one of its clients, West Virginia Family Health, announced that it would no longer contract with the state of West Virginia’s Medicaid plans.

People received letters saying their plans were being canceled and that they must choose a new coverage provider by June 30.

Gateway officials did not provide the breakdown of jobs eliminated in each area.

They did not disclose the specific types of positions affected, other than saying that the laid-off employees’ work involved the canceled contract.