What are the red flags for Erik Wexler?

Erik Wexler

Trustee, term 2026-2028

President & CEO | Providence

Last verified November 4, 2026

6 Red Flags

Affiliations

•President and CEO of Providence since January 1, 2025, succeeding Rod Hochman, MD; previously Providence's president and COO and president of strategy and operations for its southern region.
•Joined Providence in May 2016 as senior vice president and CEO of its Southern California region.
•Before Providence, served as CEO of Tenet Healthcare's Northeast Region, overseeing hospitals in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Illinois.
•Joined the board of Truveta, the health-system-owned data company, in March 2026, replacing Hochman.
•AHA trustee with a term running through 2028.

Financial / Compensation

•Wexler's total 2024 compensation was $9,125,384 ($8,590,356 reportable plus $535,028 other), per the Form 990 of Providence Health & Services - Washington.
•Schedule J breakdown (FY2024, Providence Health & Services - Washington and eight related returns): base salary $1.97M, bonus and incentive $6.17M, other reportable $448,548, retirement and deferred $519,036, nontaxable benefits $15,992; total $9.13M. Bonus and incentive pay was 68% of the total.
•His reportable pay rose 67% in one year, from $5,154,374 in 2023 to $8,590,356 in 2024, and has more than quadrupled from $1,864,281 in 2020.
•Providence reported 2025 operating revenue of $29 billion and an operating loss of $132 million, or $486 million after $354 million in restructuring costs, with a $238 million net loss.
•For the first half of 2026, Providence reported $175 million in operating income on $15 billion in revenue, compared with a $225 million operating loss a year earlier on a restated basis that excludes discontinued operations.
•Q2 2026 operating income was $64 million, a 0.8% margin, after Q1 2026 operating income of $111 million (1.5%).
•Moody's downgraded Providence St. Joseph Health from A2 to A3 with a stable outlook on July 1, 2025, citing persistent operating challenges, labor costs and Oregon's new presumptive charity care law.
•Wexler told employees at the start of 2026 that Providence would spend more than $600 million on raises, which he said was possible because of 2025's hard decisions.

Lobbying and Political

•Providence St. Joseph Health reported $800,000 in federal lobbying for 2025 in Senate LDA filings: $560,000 in-house and $240,000 paid to Mehlman Consulting.
•Through the first three quarters of 2026, Providence reported $690,000 in federal lobbying ($510,000 in-house, $180,000 to Mehlman Consulting), on pace to exceed 2025.
•Providence blamed rising Medicaid costs, insurer claim denials, local taxes and expected cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for its 2026 layoffs, which match the main federal and state fights it lobbies on.

Revolving Door

•No government employment is publicly reported for Wexler; his career has been in nonprofit and investor-owned hospital management, moving from Tenet to Providence in 2016.
•His Truveta board seat links him to a data venture owned by dozens of large health systems that sells de-identified patient data for research.

Home System Record

•Providence's charity care at cost was $248M (latest hospital tax returns), 228% of the estimated $109M a year its tax exemptions are worth (Rojas Report estimate: federal and state income tax plus property tax on hospital land and buildings; sales tax not counted).
•Providence has 1,050 340B contract pharmacy arrangements registered with HRSA (OPAIS registry, Sept. 29, 2026).
•Providence runs about 51 hospitals and roughly 1,000 clinics across seven states, with more than 120,000 employees.
•Headcount fell by about 5,000 in 2025 through divestitures and several rounds of layoffs; further cuts of about 296 positions at Providence Swedish in Washington and more than 150 in Oregon were announced for early 2026.
•Wexler's first weeks as CEO coincided with a 46-day strike by nurses across eight Oregon Nurses Association units, which ended in February 2025 with raises of up to 22% and new staffing rules.
•Divestitures under Wexler include 10 skilled nursing facilities sold to Ensign Group (2025), home health and hospice moved into a Compassus joint venture (2025), and Tegria and MedPearl sold in January 2026.
•Providence Health Plan, which lost $102 million on $2.5 billion in revenue in 2025, will shut down most of its insurance business in 2027.
•Providence plans to sell Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa to NorthBay Health by the end of 2026 and to phase out acute care and emergency services at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach, citing about $300 million in seismic upgrade costs.
•In February 2024 Providence agreed to provide $157.8 million in refunds and debt relief to 99,446 Washington patients to resolve the state attorney general's charity care suit, which alleged it billed and sent eligible low-income and Medicaid patients to collections.

Litigation and Scrutiny

•In February 2026 Providence agreed to a proposed $42.7 million settlement of an ERISA class action alleging it mismanaged its 401(k) plan and shifted plan costs onto participants; Providence denies wrongdoing and the deal requires court approval.
•The Washington attorney general's charity care case ended in a February 2024 consent resolution requiring $137.2 million in debt forgiveness, $20.6 million in refunds and more than $4.5 million to the AG's office; Providence did not admit wrongdoing.
•Moody's cited Oregon's new presumptive charity care law as a pressure on Providence's margins, signaling continuing regulatory exposure on billing low-income patients.

Red Flags

Wexler's reportable pay rose 67% to $8.59 million in 2024, the year before he took over as CEO, while Providence was losing hundreds of millions on operations.

Providence cut about 5,000 jobs in 2025, booked $354 million in restructuring costs and posted a $238 million net loss, yet the CEO-designate's pay climbed sharply.

Washington's attorney general found Providence trained staff to 'ask every patient every time' for payment and sent Medicaid enrollees to collections; the system paid $157.8 million in relief in 2024.

Providence is closing acute and emergency care at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach and exiting most of its health plan business, reducing services while keeping its tax exemption.

Moody's downgraded Providence to A3 in July 2025 on persistent operating weakness.

The proposed $42.7 million 401(k) settlement in 2026 adds employee benefits mismanagement claims to the system's record.

Pattern Summary

Erik Wexler, a former Tenet regional executive, took over Providence in 2025 after a 67% raise to $8.59 million. His turnaround has relied on about 5,000 job cuts, selling off nursing homes, home health and IT units, winding down the health plan and closing acute care at a coastal hospital, which returned the system to thin operating gains in 2026. Providence's record includes a $157.8 million Washington charity care settlement and a 2026 retirement plan settlement. On the AHA board he represents a large tax-exempt system that is cutting services and staff while paying executives at for-profit levels.

Erik Wexler

Red Flags

Sources and Citations