3 Hospitals, Health Systems Eliminating Jobs Amid Financial Pressures

UVM Health, MetroHealth System, and Children's National Hospital are the latest provider organizations to announce staff reductions.

As hospitals and health systems navigate a volatile financial landscape, many are turning to workforce reductions to rein in expenses.

Providers across the country who have initiated layoffs have cited factors like declining reimbursement rates, rising operational costs, and shifting policy realities. Generally, the focus has been on reducing costs outside of direct patient care to protect frontline services.

Here's a look at three prominent hospitals and health systems that have each announced job cuts in recent days:

UVM Health

The University of Vermont Health Network is slashing 146 roles, 77 of which are currently filled, as part of a cost-reduction strategy tied to state-ordered budget cuts.

The layoffs, which are expected to save over $5 million, affect primarily non-clinical, administrative roles across departments such as finance, IT, communications, and human resources.

"Today's actions are an important step toward our affordability goals, but we have more work to do," Sunny Eappen, president and CEO of UVM Health Network, said in a statement. "To get there, we're taking a hard look now and in the future at the costs we can control and focus on being more efficient to reduce the cost burden on patients, while continuing to support our dedicated workforce."

The move follows UVM Health's decision to cut around 200 jobs last November and comes alongside paused performance-based pay for leaders, reduced traveler and temporary workers in favor of permanent staff, and minimized spending on non-essential projects.

MetroHealth System

Cleveland-based MetroHealth System is cutting about 125 non-clinical positions, representing less than 1.5% of its total workforce.

The layoffs are part of an effort to stabilize finances in light of growing charity care costs, which have exceeded $1 million per day, and broader economic pressures. The affected roles include leadership and administrative staff, with no clinical positions or patient care services impacted, according to the health system.

"This has been a difficult day for our MetroHealth family," Christine Alexander-Rager, MetroHealth president and CEO, told employees in an email. "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 has also frozen hiring for most non-clinical roles and suspended executive incentive bonuses as it looks to bring expenses in line with revenues.

Children's National Hospital

Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., has cut approximately 70 non-clinical positions as providers grapple with financial challenges driven largely by changes in federal Medicaid funding.

The hospital emphasized that the cuts do not affect bedside staff or patient care services, with the eliminated positions mostly impacting administrative support roles, including some in leadership.

The hospital said the move is part of a broader effort to ensure long-term sustainability while maintaining access to pediatric care.

"In light of federal policy changes, healthcare industry shifts, and new opportunities to deliver care more effectively, we recently implemented a reduction in force of approximately 70 non-clinical staff members out of our 8,000-member workforce," the hospital said in a statement.