Bradenton provider of low-income healthcare files for bankruptcy, warns of mass layoffs
MCR Health, a Bradenton-based nonprofit that specializes in healthcare for low-income communities, filed for bankruptcy and said mass layoffs will happen in the coming weeks.
The organization, which opened its first site as Manatee County Rural Health Services in 1979, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday in federal court, records show. MCR Health operates more than 48 healthcare centers and 13 pharmacies in Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties.
MCR Health confirmed the bankruptcy filing and the organization’s plan to lay off an undisclosed number of employees in a statement provided to the Bradenton Herald.
“In order to continue to allow MCR Health to remain a leader in providing healthcare and access for all, we have made some difficult decisions to align with our financial reality,” company spokeswoman Aarti Lalwani said in a statement.
“These operational decisions, including workforce reductions, will be rolled out in phases. We remain a trusted partner in our community and are steadfast in our commitment to meet the needs of our patients through this challenging time.”
MCR Health is a leader in providing medical, dental and vision services for local residents who cannot afford healthcare. In 2023, more than half of the organization’s 100,000 patients were below the poverty level, a court filing said.
According to MCR Health’s website, providing “underserved and uninsured” patients is a key part of the organization’s mission statement.
Bradenton’s MCR Health announces ‘mass layoff’
Charles Johnson, the company’s chief human resources officer, announced the planned layoffs in a Nov. 8 email to employees reviewed by the Bradenton Herald. He said some employees would lose their jobs before Dec. 13. More than 800 employees work for MCR Health.
“MCR’s business is faltering and the circumstances which triggered this mass layoff were unforeseeable,” Johnson wrote in the email to employees.
Johnson also said MCR Health was exempt from the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN ACT), which requires employers to give workers at least 60 days’ notice ahead of a mass layoff.
Court records show MCR Health made its bankruptcy filing based on an effort to “cut certain expenses to more appropriately match revenue,” citing changes in the cost of reimbursement rates for behavioral health services, the cost of rent at certain office spaces and “substantial damage” caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The Bradenton-based healthcare provider has faced other issues recently. In 2023, Patrick Carnegie, the organization’s former president and CEO, filed a lawsuit accusing MCR Health of requiring him to make “illegal payments” in cash to the board chairman.
About a month later, MCR Health fired several nurses without explaining the terminations to the affected employees, the Bradenton Herald previously reported.
