DaVita has cut 38 positions in a clinical research arm of the company based in Minneapolis. The cuts are “part of a company decision to discontinue one of three segments in its clinical research division,” a spokesman said in an e-mail to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
The company will be discontinuing its work in “early clinical research” in Minneapolis and also in Denver, according to the Star Tribune.
The cuts are a further indication that DaVita will concentrate on its core business, dialysis services. In December 2017, DaVita sold off, for $4.9 billion, its DaVita Medical Group, which joined Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group.
Late in 2017, DaVita Chief Executive Officer Kent Thiry said the company would use the $4.9 billion to buy back stock in the next 2 years, to pay down obligations, and to fund general corporate initiatives. Thiry said the company would “pursue other investments in health care services outside of kidney care” in addition to “focusing on U.S. and international kidney care businesses.”
