Behavioral health nonprofit Recovery Resources will transition its psychiatric and clinical services to MetroHealth, Cuyahoga County’s public hospital.
Recovery Resources has offered outpatient services for mental health and drug, alcohol and gambling addictions since the late ’90s. That includes therapy, psychiatry and medication treatment.
Those services will transition to MetroHealth on Oct. 1, according to a spokesperson for the hospital. The two have been partners since 2018, when MetroHealth said that it “acquired” the nonprofit. This meant that MetroHealth patients could receive specialized care for behavioral health and addiction from Recovery Resources and vice versa. The partnership also means MetroHealth has the legal authority to appoint board members to the nonprofit and to make major decisions for Recovery Resources.
“Given our existing partnership, many existing psychiatric patients will continue to see their same provider,” Timothy Magaw, a spokesperson for MetroHealth, wrote in an email. He added that most Recovery Resource services are provided virtually. The change will allow services to be provided in-person at MetroHealth’s clinics across the county.
It’s not clear what the transition means for other services that Recovery Resources provides, like housing, or the future of the nonprofit. Leaders of Recovery Resources referred questions to MetroHealth. The hospital did not answer questions about whether Recovery Resources would continue to exist as a nonprofit.
The move is meant to save money as both the hospital and the nonprofit struggle financially. Magaw wrote that Medicare and Medicaid payments had not been covering the full cost of care that Recovery Resources provided. For the last several years, MetroHealth helped offset those losses as part of its affiliation agreement with Recovery Resources.
Integrating Recovery Resources’ clinical services into MetroHealth will make the system more efficient, he wrote.
“Also, as a large health system, MetroHealth has the expertise and infrastructure to maximize reimbursements from payers,” Magaw wrote. In healthcare, “payers” typically refers to insurance companies and public insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare.
Recovery Resources employed about 170 people in 2023, the year of its most recent public tax return. A spokesperson for MetroHealth said the transition impacts about 30 Recovery Resource employees, which includes administrative staff, counselors and providers.
MetroHealth is working to hire a portion of these employees. Positions are available for some of Recovery Resources’ clinical counselors and most advanced practice nurses, Magaw wrote. The nonprofit’s employees are being prioritized for open MetroHealth positions, and the hospital also expects to add seven to eight clinical positions to support the transition.
Employees who don’t make the transition will receive severance packages, Magaw wrote.
MetroHealth psychiatrists who have been serving at Recovery Resources will continue to care for their patients at Recovery Resources’ Old Brooklyn location and other MetroHealth locations, the hospital wrote.
Some patients are concerned that the transition will mean losing trusted healthcare providers. For two years, Richard Dissell said he’s been meeting with his therapist at Recovery Resources on a weekly basis as he works to stay sober. But due to the upcoming changes, his therapist will soon take a new job outside of the MetroHealth system, he said. He hopes to continue as her patient but doesn’t yet know if it is possible.
“Nothing’s concrete yet,” Dissell said
He also worries that the merger will make it more difficult for patients to receive speedy mental health and addiction treatment. He said he’s been working to transition his psychiatry services to MetroHealth — and has heard about long wait times in the process.
A spokesperson for MetroHealth wrote that the two organizations are “working closely with all clients to ensure a smooth transition and avoid disruptions in care.”
Recovery Resources has community programming
Recovery Resources runs a number of other programs in addition to clinical mental health and addiction services. It manages 55 housing units, including a sober living house for women. It also runs an employment assistance program and drug/alcohol prevention programs.
When asked what would happen to these programs, a spokesperson for MetroHealth wrote that “Recovery Resources and MetroHealth leaders are working collaboratively to identify other ways to better integrate our services.”
Recovery Resources received about $1.6 million from Cuyahoga County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board in 2025. In a statement, the board said it is in discussions with Recovery Resources to determine how the transition will affect the way the ADAMHS board funds its services.
