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Parkland Hospital\u2019s Board of Managers Chair Vincent Hall (center) reads a resolution before a vote was taken on whether to bail out\u00a0Metrocare, the area\u2019s largest mental health service provider, from its current financial crisis. The meeting was held at the Parkland Memorial Hospital WISH Clinic, 5200 Harry Hines\u00a0Blvd., in Dallas on July 13 2026.<\/p>\n
Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
In an extraordinary attempt to save Dallas County\u2019s largest public mental health provider from financial collapse, Parkland Health is planning to loan Metrocare up to $18 million so the nonprofit can continue providing services to 50,000 youth and adults each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Parkland\u2019s Board of Managers voted unanimously Monday to begin negotiating an agreement with Metrocare<\/a> to give emergency assistance with terms for strict oversight and transparency of its books.<\/p>\n Metrocare\u2019s financial state has devolved to near insolvency this year as its costs and debt increased, a position worsened by inaccurate projections of cash coming in. It had a $28.5 million operating loss in 2025, three times larger than the year before, according to an audit report.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Dallas County Auditor Tim Hicks told county officials last month he believed Metrocare needed $10 million to $15 million immediately to survive. Parkland, the county’s public hospital system, would be providing the assistance to the nonprofit that has 1,200 employees and a $168 million budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parkland Hospital\u2019s Board of Managers Chair Vincent Hall addresses the agenda before calling an executive session as the board met to discuss whether to bail out Metrocare, the area\u2019s largest mental health service provider, from its financial crisis. The meeting was held at the Parkland Memorial Hospital WISH Clinic, 5200 Harry Hines\u00a0Blvd., in Dallas on July 13 2026.<\/p>\n Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Vincent Hall, Parkland\u2019s board chair, told The Dallas Morning News the proposed assistance doesn\u2019t signal a merger of the two organizations but is meant to help Metrocare \u201cturn it around themselves.\u201d He said the emergency intervention is to prevent disaster from hitting community members and incarcerated people in the\u00a0Dallas County jail<\/a> who depend on Metrocare\u2019s mental health services.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cOur real concern is that we don\u2019t want to take a chance that so many of the people that Metrocare does serve will go without any services they really need,\u201d Hall said. \u201cIf Metrocare was to fail, it would have a profound negative effect on not only Dallas County and Parkland but even on the jail.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Continuing services<\/p>\n Metrocare\u2019s Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday to discuss the proposed bailout. Spokesperson Kennedy Newbanks declined to comment on the arrangement while discussions are underway.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement to The News, Newbanks attributed Metrocare\u2019s financial decline to multiple factors that accumulated over time. Although the organization had consistent revenues for the past four years, auditors found its net position\u00a0\u2014 the\u00a0difference between its assets and liabilities\u00a0\u2014 decreased in 2025 by $25 million after slightly increasing in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n Newbanks said this immediate crisis emerged after revenue fell short of what the nonprofit had projected to receive in prior and current-year budgets. At the same time, salaries and employee benefits went up, according to the audit.\u00a0<\/p>\n Newbanks said that gap \u201creduced visibility into our true financial position \u2026 and delayed corrective action.\u201d<\/p>\n As the organization identified its financial challenges, Newbanks said leadership added financial controls while continuing to serve tens of thousands in the community.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the safety net for our most vulnerable neighbors,\u201d Newbanks said. \u201cOur focus is on ensuring continuity of care and maintaining services for those who depend on us.\u201d<\/p>\n Parkland Health President and CEO Dr. Frederick Cerise (left) listens to a question from a media member during an interview with Parkland Hospital\u2019s Board of Managers Chair Vincent Hall (right) after the group met to discuss whether to bail out Metrocare, the area\u2019s largest mental health service provider, from its current financial crisis. The meeting was held at the Parkland Memorial Hospital WISH Clinic, 5200 Harry Hines\u00a0Blvd., in Dallas on July 13 2026.<\/p>\n Steve Hamm\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Its liabilities ballooned with the September grand opening of the $92 million Mental Health & Disability Innovation Center, known as the Hillside Campus in southern Dallas. Metrocare borrowed about $50 million from Parkland to help fund the project, which has been paid back, according to the audit.\u00a0<\/p>\n The crisis also comes amid turnover of Metrocare\u2019s leadership. Metrocare\u2019s former CEO of 13 years, John Burruss, retired in April, and Chief Strategy Officer Tate Ringer has since served as interim CEO.\u00a0<\/p>\n Former CFO Lucas Wilson left the nonprofit in May. Newbanks declined to comment on personnel issues.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Financial plan<\/p>\n Hall said he had been looped into conversations about assisting Metrocare approximately five weeks ago when \u201csomebody sounded the alarm\u201d and leadership began working on a plan.<\/p>\n On June 23, the Dallas County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to spend $600,000 to hire the Nashville-based restructuring firm Gibbons Advisors to provide interim financial leadership and financial services.<\/p>\n Newbanks said the firm will help strengthen cash-flow management, improve financial reporting and forecasting, assess internal processes, and help the board develop a long-term recovery plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins described the firm\u2019s hiring as a way to help prevent residents from losing crucial services they depend on: \u201cA lot of those people are on a razor\u2019s edge of dangerous decompensation. People with a history of suicide attempts, adults that are severely developmentally disabled that would lose services that are a lifeline to them.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Commissioner John Wiley Price cast the lone no vote, saying the injection of $600,000 for an interim financial firm was \u201ca waste of taxpayer\u2019s money\u201d and that this crisis should not have been a surprise to Metrocare.\u00a0<\/p>\n Price said financial trouble was spelled out in the last three or four audits before becoming an emergency last year, and the organization has long overstated its financial position and needs a complete overhaul.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cUnless there is a reorganization and a parceling of services from Metrocare, all we\u2019re doing is punting so that somebody else can pick up the tab,\u201d Price said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The resolution Parkland approved Monday states the $18 million loan will be spent on payroll, benefits, vendor payments and costs to implement a financial and operational turnaround plan.<\/p>\n It requires Metrocare to provide Parkland with access to all operational and financial records to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the organization. Parkland is requiring Metrocare to continue providing services to Dallas County residents and outlines terms for the nonprofit to reimburse Parkland in the event of credit default.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The board on Monday did not vote on an interest rate or payback period for the loan, but the resolution requires\u00a0Metrocare to repay Parkland any emergency assistance \u201con terms that will afford Metrocare the opportunity to achieve financial and operational stability.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The resolution calls for\u00a0Parkland to assume long-term oversight without taking full control, Hall said. That arrangement may include Parkland becoming the sole entity tasked with allocating state and federal funds, or doing so in conjunction with\u00a0Metrocare, according to the resolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parkland Hospital\u2019s Board of Managers Chair Vincent Hall (center) reads a resolution before a vote was taken on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,89138,90335],"class_list":["post-372064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-tp-dallas-county","tag-tp-mental-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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