MetroHealth will soon close a psychiatric emergency department it opened just last year in Cleveland Heights.
The department was staffed 24/7 with psychiatrists and behavioral-health-trained nurses and social workers, according to last year’s press release.
The 13-bed facility is located next to MetroHealth’s larger behavioral health hospital, which offers inpatient psychiatric care. The behavioral health hospital will stay open.
MetroHealth said the decision to close the emergency department comes after the Cuyahoga County Council voted last month to direct $7 million in funding to support the construction of a new behavioral health crisis center in the Central neighborhood. The new building, which will be operated by a local social service nonprofit, will also have psychiatric emergency services.
In addition, MetroHealth expects to lose key funding next year. The ADAMHS Board of Cuyahoga County, which doles out funding for mental health and addiction services, gave MetroHealth’s psychiatric emergency department $4 million to operate in 2025. But the ADAMHS Board is considering redirecting that funding to the new crisis center, reducing MetroHealth’s funding next year and zeroing it out entirely by 2027.
“This reduced funding, coupled with a duplication of services offered by the new crisis center, led to MetroHealth’s decision to close the unit,” the hospital wrote in a press release.
Cuyahoga County pushes back
Cuyahoga County, though, took major issue with the hospital’s sequence of events — particularly that the county is responsible for the psychiatric emergency department’s closure. The county wrote that MetroHealth previously indicated that the emergency department had been struggling financially.
“This is an internal operational and financial decision made by MetroHealth’s leadership,” according to a statement from county spokesperson Kelly Woodard. “Their challenges are not the result of the County’s investment, and we are disappointed that MetroHealth is trying to shift the blame to the County and external partners.”
MetroHealth said in a statement that closing the psychiatric emergency department was not contemplated until its funding from the ADAMHS Board was put at risk.
MetroHealth is facing a litany of financial challenges, from impending federal Medicaid cuts to a growing number of patients who can’t afford to pay their hospital bills. The hospital laid off 125 administrative staff earlier this year, closed several outpatient medical offices and has proposed reducing the level of charity care it gives out.
Still, the hospital said it is committed to treating mental health and addiction in the region.
“Let me reassure you, we are not walking away,” said Dr. Christine Alexander-Rager, MetroHealth president and CEO, in a press release. “We are committed to providing a continuum of behavioral health services and access across Cuyahoga County and we are reimaging what that looks like for our health system.”
The county, too, said it “remains focused” on strengthening the behavioral health system.
This story was updated Oct. 17 to reflect MetroHealth’s response to the county executive.
