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Governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey announced On Friday, the state announced tentative agreements to maintain 4 Steward Health Care hospitals open on five campuses.
Agreements in principle have been reached to sell Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Morton Hospital in Taunton and the Holy Family Hospital locations in Methuen and Haverhill to recent operators.
In the meantime, the state will take control of St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton through expropriation and facilitate the transition to a brand new owner.
Lawrence General Hospital will develop into the brand new operator of the 2 Holy Family campuses. Lifespan Health Systems will take over Saint Anne's and Morton. Boston Medical Center will take over Good Samaritan and eventually St. Elizabeth's.
Earlier this yr, Dallas-based Steward Healthcare filed for bankruptcy and announced it might need to sell or close its hospitals across the country, including eight in Massachusetts. Steward Chairman Ralph de la Torre Much of the blame has been placed on Steward, with many pointing to the 2016 decision to sell buildings and land to an actual estate investment trust, which then leased them back to Steward for hundreds of thousands in rent.
“None of us wanted to be here from the beginning. This is not something Massachusetts created,” Healey said during a press conference Friday afternoon. “It was something that was created by the greed and exploitation of one individual, Ralph de la Torre, and members of his team. De le Torre's actions brought us here in Massachusetts to the brink of collapse.”
From the start, Healey said, her mission was to save lots of as many Steward hospitals as possible. The government is providing $30 million in bridge funding to maintain the hospitals open until the tip of the month.
Two of the Steward hospitals in Massachusetts didn’t receive qualified offers: Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer. Both are scheduled to shut by the tip of August.
Despite ongoing protests from advocates, staff and patients, Healey has said her hands are tied and Carney and Nashoba Valley will close. She was strongly criticized at meetings this week.
“The news today is good, but not for everyone,” Healey said, speaking of Carney and Nashoba Valley. “Unlike the other hospitals, there was no hospital operator willing to make a bid to keep these facilities running. That's why these hospitals are facing closure – because of Steward, because of what Steward did to bankrupt them. So it's an incredibly disturbing reality.”
Healey said her government is working diligently to assist staff in Carney and Nashoba Valley by demanding that Steward pay the agreed severance payments and Mass Hire Send teams to hospitals to host job fairs and supply other services. A complete of 753 staff in Carney and 490 in Nashoba Valley are susceptible to layoffs.
Tim Foley, deputy executive director of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, praised the administration's actions in an announcement after the agreements were announced.
“This is exactly the kind of aggressive action that the health workers at 1199SEIU have been demanding from our state leaders. Steward's hospitals are critical to Massachusetts' health care system, and this bold step will keep them open to care for our patients, despite the outrageous financial risk-taking of Apollo Global Management, Medical Properties Trust and Steward Health Care,” he said.
The deals announced on Friday were removed from certain just 24 hours earlier. On Thursday, Healey asked lenders and personal equity giant Apollo Global Management to facilitate a deal. State House Intelligence Service reported.
Two landlords, Medical Properties Trust and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, transferred the hospitals' properties to Apollo earlier this summer. Healey accused all three of putting their very own interests above the health and well-being of Massachusetts residents.
The state plans to supply $4.5 million to amass St. Elizabeth from Apollo, which Healey said represents fair market value. That move will likely require legislative approval, and Healey said state officials are working closely with lawmakers to “develop a fiscally responsible financing plan that includes cash advances, capital support and maximizing federal grants.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Healey described the deals as the start of a brand new era.
“From where we started many, many months ago, when Steward pulled the rug out from under all of us in Massachusetts, I wasn't sure we would make it this far,” she said. “Today, I'm happy to say that we're writing off Steward in Massachusetts once and for all. Goodbye and goodbye.”
image credit : www.boston.com