MetroHealth Announces Layoffs to Stabilize Finances and Future

The MetroHealth System today announced that it is laying off about 125 employees, less than 1.5% of the safety-net public hospital system’s workforce.

The layoffs involve mainly administrative positions across the organization ranging from senior leaders to entry-level hires. Patient care, appointments and patient or public safety are not impacted.

The moves come as part of a broader effort by MetroHealth to stabilize its finances as it experiences an unprecedented surge in the cost of care it delivers to Greater Cleveland’s uninsured. The costs of charity care to the system have doubled since 2022 and now exceed $1 million a day.

In addition to this and other financial pressures affecting the healthcare industry, MetroHealth faces uncertainty about future funding for its core mission given expected changes in government policy. System leaders said that makes it imperative to act now.

“This has been a difficult day for our MetroHealth family,” President and CEO Christine Alexander-Rager, MD, told employees in an email this afternoon. “We made these decisions in response to significant financial challenges facing our system. Despite your hard work and steady growth in our volumes, MetroHealth’s expenses continue to outpace revenues. And that gap is growing.”

MetroHealth finished 2024 with $50 million in operating losses and is on pace for even larger losses in 2025.

In addition to reducing the workforce, Dr. Alexander said she will ask the Board of Trustees to suspend the at-risk portion of compensation for more than 200 top leaders for 2025. She is also extending a freeze on non-clinical hiring and non-essential travel.

The moves will also give MetroHealth more flexibility for strategic investments in its infrastructure and services, ensuring the system can continue to meet the rising demand for care while also embracing innovation and maintaining long-term sustainability.

“Our immediate goals are to ensure that we finish 2025 in a more stable position and – just as important – that we protect our ability to care for our patients,” Dr. Alexander said.

In her email, Dr. Alexander said she is working with senior leaders to assess all aspects of MetroHealth’s financial health and care delivery. She told employees to expect further changes “aimed at right-sizing our footprint, consolidating operations where necessary and expanding access to care. We must align our resources with our priorities.”

Employees impacted by the layoffs have been offered severance packages based on their time of service to the system.

At a special meeting Wednesday, MetroHealth Board of Trustees Chair E. Harry Walker, MD, said the system’s leadership has the Board’s support.

“We are in lock-step with Dr. Alexander and her team on the urgency of the issue and are pleased with their plans to change our financial trajectory and ensure MetroHealth’s ongoing stability,” Dr. Walker said. “It is clear that they understand the environment for safety-net hospitals has fundamentally changed and that we need a mindset focused on innovation, efficiency and results if we want to continue fulfilling our mission for our patients and our community.”

For Media Use: Video message from MetroHealth President and CEO Dr. Christine Alexander-Rager