MGB Layoffs 2026 Hit Clinical Programs

Featured image: Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary on Charles Street in Boston. Photo: Kzirkel via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Mass General Brigham’s 2026 layoffs now reach patient-care programs, not just administrative offices. The Boston Business Journal reported on Oct. 23, 2026, that the state’s largest health system is eliminating programs as its finances “continue to deteriorate.” It is more than $300 million behind budget for fiscal 2026 to date, and clinical services will be affected this time. Other outlets and internal memos have since confirmed the first clinical changes: general pediatric inpatient care is leaving Mass Eye and Ear, and the Home Hospital program is being cut sharply. MGB has not said how many jobs will be eliminated.

Mass General Brigham Layoffs 2026: Key Facts

Budget gap: more than $300 million behind budget in fiscal 2026, according to a Sept. 17 internal message from three senior executives reported by Becker’s Hospital Review and the BBJ.
Operating margin: 0.3%, against a target of 1.5% that MGB says a healthy organization needs, NBC Boston reported.
Timing: layoffs began on Tuesday, Oct. 13, according to MGB spokesperson Jessica Pastore, who spoke to the Boston Globe.
Headcount: not disclosed. MGB has not said how many positions are being cut or how many are planned.
Known clinical changes: Mass Eye and Ear will end general pediatric inpatient admissions by Jan. 1, 2027. The Home Hospital program will shrink to no more than 30 patients.

Why Clinical Programs Are Now on the Table

The biggest difference from MGB’s 2025 cuts is scope. When the system eliminated about 1,500 positions in two waves in February and March 2025, the cuts fell mainly on nonclinical, management and administrative roles. MGB said at the time it was closing a projected $250 million budget gap over two years.

This round goes further. In the Sept. 17 message, David Brown, MD, president of MGB’s academic medical centers; chief financial officer Niyum Gandhi; and chief operating officer Ron Walls, MD, wrote that the system must redesign its clinical and operational models and match staffing to patient needs, Becker’s reported. “We must eliminate programs and activities that do not fully align with our strategy and priorities, even those we have had for many years,” they wrote. “Administrative savings alone will not be enough.”

Pastore told the Globe that MGB is “reviewing how and where services are delivered,” which “may include consolidating, redesigning, relocating, or, in some cases, discontinuing programs.” She said department and division heads have been told to cut their budgets. How many jobs are lost will depend on whether they can find savings outside of personnel.

Mass Eye and Ear Pediatric Inpatient Changes

The first confirmed clinical change is at Mass Eye and Ear. In a memo reported by the Globe, Dr. Phoebe Yager, head of pediatric critical care at Mass General for Children, said the hospital will stop admitting general pediatric inpatients to its 10th-floor unit by Jan. 1. Those patients will instead be treated at Massachusetts General Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and other Mass General Brigham for Children sites.

According to an internal communication shared with Becker’s, the unit itself stays open and returns to its earlier focus on pediatric specialty care. MGB says the affected pediatricians have been offered other clinical jobs in the system. Yager wrote that she hopes “these talented physicians will consider these opportunities.”

Home Hospital Cuts and Other Programs

We covered the Home Hospital cuts in our Oct. 23 business report. In short, the program will eventually serve no more than 30 patients, down from a capacity of 70 in 2024. It will refocus on Mass General and the Brigham, and clinical operations will pause at Salem Hospital, Newton-Wellesley and Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, according to an internal memo obtained by the Globe. The memo said the program lost an average of $30 million a year over three years. MGB has not publicly named any other programs that will be eliminated.

What MGB Says About Its Finances

In a statement shared with several outlets, MGB said earlier actions “helped improve our financial position” but its “operating performance still requires broader structural changes.” It said it must improve coordination across hospitals and speed up “our transition to a more integrated model of care.” The statement added that “this work will be guided by our clinicians who are closest to patient care.”

The cuts come about three years into MGB’s effort to merge clinical departments at Mass General and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Globe noted. MGB employs more than 80,000 people and is the state’s largest private employer. Our explainer on Mass General’s size and economic role has more background.

Labor Backdrop at the Brigham

The layoffs are happening during a contract fight at Brigham and Women’s. On Oct. 23, nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association rejected the hospital’s “best and final” offer. MGB has pointed to the need for financial discipline during those talks. Our report on the Brigham nurses’ vote covers what could happen next. MGB has not said whether it will file layoff notices with the state under the WARN Act.

For more on local employers, see our Boston job market tracker and Boston business news.

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Mass General Brigham Layoffs Reach Clinical Programs as System Runs $300M Behind Budget