Nursing Home Deal Drains Tacoma Jobs

The merger of the Hillhaven Corp. nursing-home chain with a Kentucky-based health-care provider will cost Tacoma 400 jobs next summer.

The decision was announced to employees Monday, about 11 weeks after Hillhaven’s merger with Vencor Inc. of Louisville, Ky. The move of Tacoma-based Hillhaven’s operation is expected to take several months, beginning in June.

The 400 jobs generate a payroll of about $20 million a year.

An additional 80 employees will stay in Tacoma to run Vencor’s Mountain Region, one of five the company is setting up across the country. The Tacoma office will oversee nursing-home operations in all Western states except California.