DaVita laying off 109 at Orlando facility after selling prescription unit

Dialysis provider DaVita Inc. is laying off 109 employees at a prescription-drug distribution facility in Orlando.

The layoffs come after a sale involving its DaVita Rx prescription-drug unit to pharmacy retailer Walgreens, spokesman Skip Thurman said.

DaVita notified state officials of the layoffs last week.

The cuts impact workers at the facility at 2252 Commerce Park Dr. in Orlando, where employees packaged prescription pharmaceuticals to be distributed to patients undergoing dialysis treatments.Thurman said employees will have the option of working with Walgreens when it takes over the facility in September.

Employees will be let go between Sept. 23 and Dec. 3.

“These are highly sought-after workers,” Thurman said.

Employees were notified last week, he said. Job fairs are scheduled for both DaVita and Walgreens in the coming weeks, he said.

Walgreens confirmed the transaction but did not give a price for the purchase or say what would happen to the employees at the facility.

“On July 25, we reached an agreement with DaVita Rx, a pharmacy owned by DaVita Inc. to service patients with kidney disease, to purchase DaVita’s non-dialysis related prescription files that are billed as a pharmacy benefit, mostly under Medicare Part D,” a Walgreens spokesman said in an emailed statement. “This prescription file-transfer sale is anticipated to close in September and when the anticipated deal closes, patients who use DaVita Rx’s pharmacy mail services will have the opportunity to transition to become Walgreens retail pharmacy patients.”

In 2013, California-based DaVita told the state it planned to hire as many as 100 employees at its Orlando prescription processing facility and could have received up to $360,000 from the State of Florida and Orange County for hitting hiring targets. However, DaVita never received money for the state, according to public databases of state incentive grants.

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