Southcoast Health introduced it’s contemplating shopping for a Fall River hospital owned by financially floundering Steward Health Care, with the purpose of preserving take care of sufferers and stopping the ability from doubtlessly closing.
Southcoast Health CEO David McCready mentioned his group has a “strong interest” in buying St. Anne’s Hospital.
“St. Anne’s patients and employees are part of our community; they are our family members, friends and neighbors,” McCready mentioned in a neighborhood message Friday, which was posted on the not-for-profit well being care system’s web site. He mentioned his firm’s message to Steward is: “The best option for St. Anne’s Hospital, its patients, its employees, and our community, is for St. Anne’s to join the Southcoast Health family.”
In a separate letter regarding Steward, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey demanded that CEO Ralph de la Torre clarify “years of mismanagement, private equity schemes, and executive profiteering” on the for-profit firm he leads.
The senators wrote that Steward has a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in debt, “raising questions about unpaid vendors, patient care, and job losses for front-line health care workers, while creating ongoing uncertainty about whether hospitals will close, and if not, how they will be restructured.”
“You are attempting to make a last-minute deal for your remaining assets that would let you walk away, while leaving Governor Healey and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to scramble for a solution to preserve care,” the senators wrote to Steward’s CEO.
Southcoast Health operates three hospitals in Massachusetts, together with Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford and Tobey Hospital in Wareham. The system’s subsequent step is to conduct “thorough due diligence” to find out whether or not any sort of acquisition with Steward is possible, McCready wrote.
A Steward spokesperson, requested if the corporate was additionally within the transaction, didn’t immediately handle a deal for St. Anne’s Hospital.
“Steward Health Care is working with state officials and others to transition ownership of the Massachusetts hospitals in a way that everyone agrees is best for patients, our employees, and the Commonwealth,” the spokesperson mentioned in an announcement to the News Service. “We are committed to continuity of care in our communities, and we appreciate the strong level of interest we have received from numerous qualified health systems that could facilitate a smooth transition.”
McCready wrote he was alarmed by information that Steward — a for-profit system that’s confronted growing scrutiny over its extreme monetary misery and incomplete monetary reporting to state regulators — plans to dump its 9 Massachusetts hospitals. Gov. Maura Healey’s workplace final month mentioned it’s time for Steward to depart the Massachusetts well being care market.
“As you can imagine, this will be a complex transaction involving multiple parties – with the potential to be truly devastating for these hospitals’ patients and employees if there is an interruption of service,” McCready mentioned. “In the worst case, if Steward and their partners fail to find a buyer, or enough buyers, they may have to close one or more of their hospitals.”
In their letter to de la Torre, Warren and Markey mentioned they need solutions by March 21 outlining the compensation of prime Steward executives, and the monetary association between Steward and Medical Properties Trust, which is basically the owner for Steward hospitals. Their prolonged record of questions additionally probes Steward’s plan to repay its debt and exit Massachusetts, and previous transactions with non-public fairness agency Cerberus Capital Management.
The senators demanded that Steward present audited monetary statements for fiscal years ending Dec. 31 of 2022 and 2023.
“Steward’s Massachusetts hospitals are in deep financial distress and appear to be in danger of closure because of years of mismanagement, private equity schemes, and executive profiteering. You have run this hospital system for 14 years, and reportedly have had access to two private jets while owning two luxury yachts,” the letter states.
— Alison Kuznitz / State home News Service
Source: www.bostonherald.com”