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Boston City Council discusses Steward Health Care financial crisis

The Boston City Council discussed how to deal with Steward in a virtual meeting Thursday.

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The future of nine Massachusetts hospitals remains up in the air as Steward Health Care waits to respond to the latest request from Gov. Maura Healey. Meanwhile, at St. Elizabeth’s in Boston, workers say patients have stopped coming because they either assume it’s closed or worried about the quality of care they’d receive.

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Steward Health Care is now in the crosshairs of the Boston City Council.

The embattled health care system was the subject of a virtual meeting of Boston City Council Thursday, after being given an ultimatum from Gov. Maura Healey.

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Steward — which owns nine health care facilities in the state, including Carney Hospital in Dorchester — is being pressured by elected officials to turn over financial records by Friday or leave the state.

The company is reportedly $50 million behind on its rent, and employees say the financial woes are showing even in the little things such as the shortage of supplies due to not paying their vendors. They also say the company can't resume construction on the Norwood Hospital that flooded in 2020 because it's not paying contractors.

The Boston City Council is set to join lawmakers Thursday to demand something be done about Steward Health Care. The system is in the middle of a financial crisis and closures could leave some people without access to a local hospital.

U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch on Wednesday visited that hospital and Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital that caught fire last year, which is set to reopen in late spring. He's now threatening company executives with a subpoena.

"We need to get complete transparency from steward health care about their finances, about their plans," said Lynch.

"I'm not a financial expert, but I'm certainly making sure that the requests from the congressmen, the letter that the delegation has sent has been forwarded on to Dallas for their review and hopefully for their response," said Dr. Joseph Weinstein, chief physician executive at Steward Health Care

Weinstein also said that he believes patient care is adequate.

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