History
Mass General Brigham was founded by the academic medical centers (AMCs) which give it its name: Massachusetts General Hospital (colloquially referred to as "Mass General") and Brigham and Women's Hospital ("the Brigham"). Both hospitals were founded in the early 1800s, are based in Boston, and serve as major teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School.
In 1994, fueled by economic and political pressure to cut costs on patient care and health care education, the two hospitals merged to create a new parent corporation: Partners HealthCare ("Partners"). The two entities continued to operate largely independently, and remained competitors in multiple areas, until 2019.
In 2015, Partners launched an electronic health record (EHR) system, allowing doctors, nurses, and other caregivers easier access patients' medical history. The effort computerized millions of health records across the system, creating one record for each Partners patient, allowing information to be more easily shared among caregivers.
In 2016, the system moved to their current headquarters in Somerville's Assembly Row. The building allowed Mass General Brigham to merge 14 other offices.
In 2019, 25 years after the founding of Partners, the health system integrated the organization under the new name "Mass General Brigham".
In 2024, Mass General Brigham began integrating clinical departments across Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital and to establish disease-focused institutes spanning the system.
Innovations and ventures
Mass General Brigham is the largest hospital system-based research enterprise in America, with an annual research budget exceeding $2 billion. It is the top system for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in the world, receiving $1.04 billion from NIH in 2022.
The system's funding for research has grown from $1.5 billion in 2012 to $2.3 billion in 2023, with nearly 2/3 of the funds coming from outside of Massachusetts. Research revenues in 2022 were $2.2 billion. In 2023, the system said it had over 2,700 ongoing clinical trials, focused on accelerating new treatments and therapies. Among the system's recent innovations: Visudyne for macular degeneration, Enbrel for rheumatoid arthritis, Eloctate and Alprolix for hemophilia, Entyvio for crohn's disease, and total joint replacements such as Durasul, Longevity, E1, and Vicacit-E.
Controversies and challenges
In May 2000, CEO Dr. Samuel Thier and William C. Van Faasen, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts—the state's biggest health insurer—agreed to a deal that raised insurance costs all across Massachusetts. They agreed that Van Faasen would substantially increase insurance payments to Mass General Brigham doctors and hospitals, largely correcting the underpayments of the previous 10 years. However, Partners issued a statement saying that Thier pledged only that he would treat all insurers equally. According to Boston Globe investigative journalists, Blue Cross and other insurers increased the rate they paid Mass General Brigham by 75 percent between 2000 and 2008, though CEO James J. Mongan argued insurance rates in Massachusetts have gone up at roughly the same rate as the national average.
In 2013, Mass General Brigham's plan to take over 378-bed South Shore Hospital in Weymouth was reviewed due to fears that the expansion plan is anticompetitive, a conduct Mass General Brigham had been accused of over the past four years in other cases. In 2015, the system abandoned their plans to invest $200 million into the hospital.
In April 2017, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts announced that Partners HealthCare System and one of its hospitals, Brigham and Women's Hospital, agreed to pay a $10 million fine to resolve allegations that a stem cell research lab fraudulently obtained federal grant funding. Federal prosecutors commended the Brigham for disclosing allegations of fraudulent research at the lab and for taking steps to prevent future recurrences of such conduct.
In May 2017, Partners announced they would be cutting more than $600 million in expenses over the next three years in an effort to control higher costs and to become more efficient. The cost-cutting initiative was called Partners 2.0, and the plan looked to reduce costs in research, care delivery, revenue collection, and supply chain. The plan began on October 1, 2017 and eliminated jobs. The company lost $108 million in 2016, but was profitable in 2017 despite industry turmoil.
In February 2018, Partners announced that 100 coders would have their jobs outsourced to India in a cost saving move. This was all part of the non-profit hospital and physicians network's three-year plan to reduce $500 million to $800 million in overhead costs. CEO Dr. David Torchiana said the job cuts were a financial necessity, adding that most sectors outsource call centers and back-office functions.
During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Partners HealthCare, who reported operating income of $484 million (3.5% operating margin) in fiscal year 2019, refused hazard pay to its healthcare workers despite lack of proper PPE. However, they did not layoff or furlough any employees during the pandemic, while cutting executive salaries. The system explained it does not calibrate pay and benefits based upon patients' conditions, because a core part of its mission is delivering the same high-quality care to all patients regardless of the severity of their condition. Partners also provided employees with pay and benefits for those unable to work due to COVID-related illness, eight weeks of pay for those temporarily without work, and hotel rooms for employees.
Mass General Brigham reported a loss of operations of $432 million (−2.6% operating margin) in fiscal year 2022 due to historic cost inflation, significant workforce shortages, and a worsening capacity crisis. Many health care systems and hospitals nationwide are experiencing the worst year financially since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, the system announced its plan for a long-term sustainable future, which includes the following initiatives: Advancing integration to improve patient care and identify efficiencies, addressing the labor shortage by building workforce pipelines, and reducing expenses.
2026 nursing strike
In July 2026, after contract negotiations stalled over wage increases, MGB faced the largest coordinated strike of healthcare workers in Massachusetts history. Over 4,000 nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital held a one-day strike and 465 MGB Home Care clinicians struck separately over a longer period. MGB responded to the BWH strike with a four-day lockout and staffed the hospital with more than 1,200 temporary traveling nurses during the dispute. The union representing the workers, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, criticized MGB's wage offers relative to the system's financial position and to executive compensation, including CEO Anne Klibanski's pay, which rose from $8.4 million in fiscal year 2024 to approximately $9.2 million in fiscal year 2025. As of August 2026, MGB and the MNA had not reached new contracts covering the BWH nurses or Home Care clinicians.
