Steward Health Care, the largest physician-led hospital operator in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy early Monday morning.
Steward hospitals remain open, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey emphasized Monday during a press conference, and patients shouldn't hesitate to seek care.
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"[Massachusetts Association of Health Plans] member plans will continue to provide coverage at Steward facilities," said President and CEO Lora Pellegrini. "If any health plan member has immediate concerns regarding coverage or access, they should contact their health plan's member services department for further assistance."
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This bankruptcy filing, which Healey said occurred at 3:30 a.m. in Texas, does not really come as a shock. In fact, over the past few days the Healey administration activated an "emergency operations plan" in response to Steward Health Care's serious financial problems that came to light months ago.
That plan includes a command center to monitor all Steward locations in the state and manage the potential fallout of a bankruptcy filing.
The goal right now, as the bankruptcy process begins, is sending a representative to Texas to represent the state's interests in the bankruptcy proceedings there, while locally prioritizing patient safety, jobs and access to care.
Chief among that is supporting nurses, doctors and other staff who remain at these hospitals despite the crisis they're going through to keep them operating.
Healey said this situation happened because of greed and mismanagement by a failed management team at Steward, adding this bankruptcy process should increase transparency, and Steward will "no longer be able to lie."
"Ultimately, this is a step toward our goal to getting Steward out of Massachusetts, and it allows us to do that to protect access to care, preserve jobs, and stabilize our health care system," she said.
"The potential loss of any of these facilities would have devastating consequences for hundreds of thousands of residents on the South Shore to southern New Hampshire," said Julie Pinkham, Massachusetts Nurses Association. "We need only to look to what is happening in southeastern Massachusetts with the loss of Norwood Hospital and then Brockton Hospital, where the influx of patients has stressed the region's already overburdened emergency department to see what lies in store for you to lose any other facilities."
Steward, a Texas-based health care system, has 32 hospitals in eight states, including eight in Massachusetts. It blamed its financial problems on the "highly challenging health care environment," including insufficient government reimbursement, skyrocketing labor costs, inflation and impacts from the pandemic.
Steward reportedly owes hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid rent and has been sued by at least two dozen venders who claim they weren't paid for services or supplies.
In a statement, Steward's CEO said under the bankruptcy process, "Steward will be better positioned to responsibly transition ownership of its Massachusetts-based hospitals, keep all of its hospitals open to treat patients, and ensure the continued care and service of our patients and our communities."
"The Healey-Driscoll administration is working with Steward and any potential partners to support an orderly transfer of ownership that protects access to care, preserves jobs and stabilizes our health care system," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh.
The state established a website, mass.gov/stewardresources, and call center for people with questions about this situation.
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