Clinicians negotiating a first MNA contract say Mass General Brigham is prioritizing growth and census numbers over patient and staff safety in the Home Hospital program

BOSTON, June 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The clinicians of MGB Home Hospital, represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), held a standout outside Mass General Brigham's headquarters in Assembly Row on Thursday afternoon after leaving negotiations with management around 1 p.m.

Clinicians lined Revolutionary Road adjacent to MGB's Somerville headquarters holding signs directed at executives entering and leaving the building, including messages such as "Support MGB Home Hospital Clinicians: Patients over Profits!" and "Safety over Census! Support MGB Home Hospital Clinicians."

The standout comes as clinicians continue bargaining for a first MNA contract that addresses patient safety concerns, staff safety, and wages they say lag far behind hospital-based positions within the MGB system.

"MGB executives work in a gleaming $465 million headquarters while frontline clinicians are raising serious concerns about patient and staff safety in the field," said Bridget Ellis, an MGB Home Hospital registered nurse and bargaining committee member. "We are speaking out because patients deserve safe care and clinicians deserve the protections and support necessary to provide it."

Clinicians say MGB has pushed to increase Home Hospital census even in situations where patients may not be appropriate for the setting or where there is insufficient support to safely care for them at home.

According to clinicians, home hospital staff routinely encounter unsafe home conditions, including homes with inadequate utilities, structural hazards, infestations, smoking or substance use inside the home, and confused or potentially dangerous patients. Clinicians say MGB has refused proposals for meaningful home safety inspections despite established standards at other leading programs, including Johns Hopkins.

"We are supportive of the Home Hospital model of care done safely and with the input of clinicians," Nicole Ponte, an MGB Home Hospital registered nurse and bargaining committee member. "MGB cannot prioritize expanding the program and increasing census at the expense of patient care and clinician safety."

Clinicians also say wages remain significantly below comparable hospital-based positions within MGB facilities, making recruitment and retention more difficult as the program expands across Eastern Massachusetts. The MGB Home Hospital program serves patients discharged or referred from multiple MGB hospitals, including Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Salem Hospital, and Brigham and Women's Faulkner Hospital.

MGB opened its Somerville headquarters complex in Assembly Row in 2016. The project includes approximately 825,000 square feet of office space and a 2,000-car parking garage.

MGB Finances and Executive Pay

As other Massachusetts hospital systems reported losses, MGB turned a profit and improved its financial situation. According to Stat News, MGB reported a $59.2 million operating gain in the year ending in September 2025, compared to a $45.7 million gain in the same period the year prior. The publication reported that those numbers, along with a sizable gain from investments, contributed to a $2.4 billion net margin. Last year, the system reported $2 billion in net gains.

• MGB CEO Dr. Anne Klibanksi has increased her pay substantially in recent years. Klibanski was paid $6 million in 2023. In 2024, her pay jumped 40% to $8.4 million.
• From 2018 to 2023, MGB executives and key employees made $819 million in total salary. They made a combined $100 million in bonuses, according to MGB filings.

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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 26,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association