St. Mary's parent company cutting jobs

SSM Health Care, the parent company of St. Mary's Health Center (SMHC) in Jefferson City, is cutting jobs throughout its health system, but the company will not say where the layoffs will happen and how many jobs will be affected.

SSM owns and operates 18 hospitals in four states - Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois.

Kristen Johnson, a spokeswoman for SSM, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Tuesday that the company is making announcements this week to its employees.

"There's nothing more we can say," Johnson said. "Out of respect for those affected, we can't really discuss the details until we've had a chance to share these organizational changes with our staff."

Heather Feeler, communications coordinator for SMHC, echoed Johnson's statement.

"Out of respect for employees, we aren't saying anything," Feeler said. "If this affects them, we want to tell them first."

SSM Health Care has recently expanded in Missouri.

The nonprofit purchased Mexico's Audrain Medical Center and its nine MedChoice rural clinics in March.

It then formed a new SSM Mid-Missouri Region, which serves an area population of 500,000 people.

SMHC is also building a new $200 million facility at Mission Drive and Missouri 179. The hospital announced last month that the new facility will open in November 2014, two months earlier than originally planned.