Memorial Sloan Kettering Cuts 2% of Jobs Amid Industry-Wide Staffing Pullback

The reduction follows a trend of hospitals nationwide cutting jobs, freezing hiring, and reorganizing operations to ease financial challenges.

Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center is eliminating less than 2% of its workforce, joining a growing list of health systems making difficult staffing decisions in response to ongoing financial and operational pressures.

The New York-based cancer center said the job cuts were due to the need to reallocate resources and close a budget gap of more than $200 million, according to an email sent to employees. While the organization did not specify the exact number of roles affected, the reduction represents a notable contraction for one of the nation’s leading specialty hospitals, which employed 21,175 staff as of last year.

Employees impact by the terminations will be notified between late September and November 15.

“Structural deficits are an industry-wide issue affecting hospitals and healthcare organizations across the country,” MSK said in a statement. “To close the gap and enable MSK to continue delivering world-class cancer care, department leaders have identified a variety of efficiencies and cost savings. These include reducing spending through program redesigns, decreasing work with consultants, and identifying a limited number of currently staffed positions — less than 2% of MSK’s workforce — that will be eliminated as work is reorganized and reprioritized.”

MSK’s move reflects a broader trend across the healthcare sector. In recent months, hospitals and health systems nationwide have announced layoffs or hiring freezes as they confront rising expenses and margin volatility. Leaders are balancing the imperative to maintain access and quality of care with the reality of unsustainable operating strain.

Workforce retrenchment hasn’t been limited to any one segment. Academic medical centers, community hospitals, and even large integrated systems have all taken steps to reduce staff in non-clinical and administrative areas, while being careful to preserve frontline clinical capacity. Some executives have framed these actions as necessary adjustments to stabilize finances and position organizations for long-term sustainability.

Providence, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit systems, has taken several steps this year to reduce its workforce, including cutting 128 jobs in Oregon, restructuring to eliminate about 600 positions, and pausing nonclinical hiring. UVM Health Network recently announced 146 job cuts, primarily in finance, IT, human resources, and communications. MetroHealth System in Cleveland is eliminating about 125 nonclinical roles while freezing most nonclinical hiring, and Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., has slashed 70 administrative positions.

At Memorial Sloan Kettering, the job cuts highlight the challenges facing even specialized providers with strong reputations and national reach. While demand for oncology care continues to rise, the costs associated with highly complex treatment, coupled with broader inflationary headwinds, have left little room for inefficiencies.

Although healthcare has been a major driver of national job growth, the sector slowed in August, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The industry added 31,000 positions, which was well below its 12-month average of 42,000 jobs created.

Hospitals contributed 9,000 of those jobs, representing a sharp decline from the 16,000 added in July.