Mass General Brigham CEO sends vague letter to 85,000 staff amid ongoing layoffs

Dr. Anne Klibanski, the chief executive of Mass General Brigham, emailed a letter to approximately 85,000 employees late Monday, stating that the health system faces urgent financial challenges. The message, sent less than two weeks after the organization announced it had begun laying off workers, said MGB is changing how it operates and uses its workforce. However, the email did not mention layoffs by name or provide specific details about which roles or programs are affected.

“We must improve our performance and make thoughtful decisions about how we use our resources,” Klibanski wrote in the email. She added that some decisions would be difficult, particularly when they affect colleagues, teams, long-standing roles, and programs. The letter emphasized that decisions should be made by those with expertise closest to the work, using evidence and outcomes rather than anecdote, with less bureaucracy.

The lack of specific details in the communication drew immediate criticism from union leaders. Dr. Michael Barnett, a primary care physician at Brigham and one of the organizers of a union of primary care doctors at MGB, said the system needs transparency. “MGB vaguely suggesting change must occur serves to only create fear and distrust,” Barnett said. “Leadership is not telling us what they really think.”

Another primary care doctor at MGB, who requested anonymity to protect their job, described the email as creating a sense of foreboding. “It feels like this is a harbinger of yet more that’s going to be piled on primary care,” the doctor said. “My worst fear is that they’re going to make it so intolerable that we all quit.”

MGB declined to respond to the criticism through a spokesperson, though an executive told the Boston Globe last week that cost-cutting efforts would likely last for two years. The system began layoffs on Oct. 13 to boost financial performance. Jessica Pastore, an MGB spokesperson, said the organization has only mentioned a couple of workforce reductions and program changes so far. She declined to specify the total number of job cuts, noting that many decisions have not yet been made.

One major change involves the Home Hospital program, which has lost an average of $30 million per year over the last three years. An internal memo states that MGB plans to cut the program so it treats no more than 30 patients at a time, down from a capacity of 70 in August 2024. Clinical operations for the program will be indefinitely paused at Salem Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital. The system will refocus the program to support Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham, which need more bed capacity.

Ann Scott, a 93-year-old retired Bates College music professor living in Lexington, expressed concern about the changes. She used the Home Hospital service twice in recent years for recovery from a skin infection and pneumonia. “They always said it was less expensive to do this in my home than to keep me there in the hospital, so I don’t understand their rationale,” Scott said. Pastore said the program remains valued and is being redesigned to achieve better financial sustainability.

The system is targeting an operating margin of 1.5 percent of operating revenue, or $300 million, by Sept. 30, 2028. In fiscal 2025, MGB reported an operating margin of $59 million, or 0.3 percent of operating revenue. Pastore said the organization prefers to save money through non-labor means, such as consolidating leases and renegotiating vendor contracts, whenever possible. A high-ranking executive noted that the final number of layoffs will depend on how much money administrators can save through other cuts and consolidations over the next two years.