The Metrohealth System

The Metrohealth System, doing business as Metrohealth, is a Cleveland-based U.S. local government county hospital entity that delivers healthcare services and medical research support to federal agencies as a prime recipient and contractor (51% of recent awards) and as a subcontractor or sub-recipient on research and public health programs (49%). Metrohealth is not a federal contractor subject to SBA set-asides; all awards are full-and-open or directed to the hospital based on its specialized medical capabilities and data access. The organization operates a federally qualified health center look-alike and maintains Metrohealth Medical Center as a named subsidiary.

Metrohealth's federal work concentrates in three capability areas: clinical research support, specialized medical services, and public health workforce development and community health initiatives. On the contract side, the organization provides autopsy services, research support, and clinical trial participation services to the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 (Cleveland VA Medical Center), with a single award indefinite delivery contract ($100,000 ceiling) issued in March 2023 for autopsy services through March 2025 and two delivery orders ($20,000 each) placed to date. Most recently, Metrohealth accepted a $30,000 firm fixed-price purchase order from the CDC Pittsburgh in April 2025 to provide access to the Epic Cosmos electronic health record dataset—the nation's largest integrated EHR system covering over 240 million patient records—to enable CDC assessment of real-world effectiveness questions, rare health outcomes, and vaccine data tracking. A $15,000 contract with Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 in May 2024 funded research and autopsy support services for the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

Federal grant work anchors Metrohealth's recent growth and represents the largest opportunity volume. The organization is a prime recipient on eight federal grant programs awarded since 2022, totaling seven awards under the Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals, including a $500,000 Primary Care Training and Enhancement program (CFDA 93.884) effective July 2026 through June 2031 to fund residency training in street medicine for unhoused populations in Ohio; a postdoctoral training grant in general, pediatric, and public health dentistry and dental hygiene (July 2025 through June 2030); and a Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education payment program running through June 2027. Metrohealth also received a project grant from the EPA Region 5 in October 2024 under the Inflation Reduction Act to identify and retrofit 1,200 Greater Cleveland-area households with asthma residents by replacing gas ranges with electric ranges, upgrading kitchen electrical systems, and installing EV chargers as needed. The National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (CDC) awarded a cooperative agreement in September 2023 for heart health equity work across Cuyahoga County communities using quality improvement, community health worker models, and data sharing among local health systems and community organizations (running through September 2028). Metrohealth also received grants from the Bureau of Primary Health Care, Administration on Aging, and the National Endowment for the Arts for community health worker training, malnutrition screening, and arts-based trauma prevention.

Customer concentration sits with federal public health and healthcare agencies. The Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Veterans Integrated Service Network 10 anchors contract work with 11 awards ($538 thousand combined potential value). The Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service leads by award count with 12 grants routed through the state of Ohio (WIC and other nutrition programs), while the Health Resources and Services Administration Bureau of Health Professionals accounts for seven grants focused on health profession training. Metrohealth serves 32 distinct federal customer agencies across recent awards, with the top five by award count or potential value representing 43% of total awards and 91% of combined potential value. The EPA Office of Research and Development, Department of Justice Bureau of Prisons, and CDC represent secondary funders. Parent vehicle activity remains minimal: Metrohealth sits on two indefinite delivery contracts (36C25023D0039 and W81XWH16D0024), each with only two task orders.

Metrohealth operates predominantly as a subcontractor and sub-recipient on federal research and public health programs rather than pursuing direct prime federal contracts. SCI-reported data captures minimal activity: two records as a named subcontractor across FY2022–FY2024, reflecting roughly 0.1 FTEs in service contract work below the organizational scale. In its sub-recipient role, Metrohealth receives funding through the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Mental Health, Cleveland Department of Public Health, and research universities including University of Pittsburgh, University of Alabama at Birmingham, University of Southern California, and Palo Alto Veterans Institute for Research. Sub-awards cover WIC nutrition services, community health worker training, state opioid response programs, HIV case management and prevention, healthy start maternal-child health services, and research participation in hemorrhagic shock treatment trials, pregnancy hypertension outcomes, and suicide prevention studies. Activity expanded sharply in 2024 (28 awards) following slower 2022–2023 (6 and 9 awards respectively) and contracted in 2025–2026 (13 and 2 awards); two awards face completion inside the next twenty-four months, presenting minimal recompete exposure.