Tampa health tech firm to lay off nearly 100 employees, blames Trump administration

GroundGame.Health in Tampa is laying off 97 employees — blaming a change in how the government in Washington, D.C. approaches health care.

Julie Sommer, the company’s senior vice president of marketing, in an interview Wednesday afternoon says the cuts are result of  “the current administration’s shift in public policy priorities and influence on government programs that led to some of our clients having to pause their initiatives and reduce their spending, including on programs like ours that have demonstrated a strong return on investment.”

She did not provide specifics.

The tech company, which according to PitchBook was founded in 2015, works with health care plans, health care providers, employers and community-based organizations to reach underserved communities and individuals. It says on its website that it has reached 2.1 million people, solved more than 350,000 “social needs,” and poured more than $36 million back into communities.

It announced in August that it had merged with SameSky Health and closed a $17 million Series A funding round.

The company was No. 447 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list, following 2023’s No. 692 placement.

Sommer on Wednesday could not share how much — dollar wise — the changes in the Trump administration’s approach to federal health care spending had affected the clients it works with. She did say, however, GroundGame.Health would continue to operating

“Just after careful consideration and what's going on, you know, we've made that difficult decision to have to reduce our workforce to position our company for long term success,” she says.

The company announced the job cuts in a letter to Florida and Tampa officials dated May 12 and that was posted to the state’s Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification database Wednesday afternoon.

The letter, which was sent to meet federal requirements, says the company expects the 97 employees will be laid off Friday, July 11.

The list of employees affected, includes outreach workers, seven vice presidents, the chief financial officer and the chief growth officer.

Sommer could not say how much of the workforce would remain after the cuts were implemented.