St. Louis ConnectCare cuts more than half of its staff

St. Louis ConnectCare, one of the area's leading providers of outpatient specialty medical services for the poor, issued layoff notices Wednesday to more than half of its staff. The layoffs of 88 employees, from nurses to medical assistants and customer service personnel, will take effect in 60 days, said Melody Eskridge, president and chief executive of ConnectCare. In addition, an unspecified number of physicians who contract to provide services to ConnectCare patients will no longer see patients there. Eleven ConnectCare employees also received their pink slips last week.