Calif.-based startup Curative offers COVID-19 testing and vaccination services throughout the U.S., but as testing needs have lessened, the company is shifting its focus to launching a new health plan.

Due to the course change, the company is laying off 109 employees in early November. 

The company filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice with the state of California. WARN is a U.S. labor law requiring employers with 100 or more employees to provide advanced notification of mass layoffs and plant closures 60 calendar days in advance.

"As the company transitions from COVID-19 testing to launching a new health plan out of Austin, Texas, we are reducing the workforce in some areas of the company and expanding in others," a spokesperson from Curative told MobiHealthNews. 

Curative will launch its employer-based health plan first in Travis and Williamson counties in Texas, then throughout the state of Texas in the coming year. Subsequently, it plans to offer its plan in additional states.

The plan will offer $0 copays and $0 deductibles for in-network care. To qualify, members must complete a preventative health Baseline Visit within 120 days to continue receiving $0 deductibles, $0 copays and $0 out-of-pocket costs for in-network care. 

THE LARGER TREND

Numerous digital health and health tech companies have announced layoffs since the beginning of 2022.

In June, Carbon Health, a chain of healthcare provider clinics that provides telemedicine, laid off 250 employees, about 8% of the company's workforce. Carbon gained significant revenue from its COVID-19 services, but the company closed many of those services as the pandemic shifted. 

July saw virtual care company Included Health reduce its employee count by less than 6%, and prescription digital therapeutics maker Pear Therapeutics laid off 9% of its full-time workforce.

Calm, a company that flourished during the pandemic by offering an app to help with meditation, stress, and sleep, let go of 20% of its staff due to what its CEO David Ko said was the company "not [being] immune to the impacts of the current economic environment." 

Cue Health, which offers an at-home molecular COVID-19 test, laid off 170 manufacturing workers earlier this summer.

Most recently, GoodRx, a company known for its prescription price transparency tools, laid off approximately 140 of its workforce, or about 16% of its employees. The reduction primarily impacted its technology-focused and marketing segments.

Other companies that faced mass layoffs include 23andMe, one of the largest genomic platforms in the U.S., payment company Cedar, healthcare automation company Olive, and AI-back genomic and clinical data company Sema4.