Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey is both unable or unwilling to cover her anger with Steward Health Care system, its administration, and their response to her calls for for monetary info.
Steward, which operates 9 medical services within the Bay State, together with seven acute-care hospitals, is dealing with elevated scrutiny after it was realized the corporate was behind in its lease by upwards of $50 million and, in line with a number of lawsuits, has allegedly been stiffing a few of its contractors out of their cash.
Their monetary woes are such that it’s apparently impacted staffing and affected person care at their services, main the state to deploy Department of Public Health displays in any respect 9 Steward areas.
Last week, Healey despatched a letter to Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre, telling him to seek out new operators for the hospitals and go away the Massachusetts market “as soon as possible,” and demanding the corporate flip over long-sought legally-mandated monetary paperwork by Friday.
Following certainly one of her semi-regular management assembly with Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano on Monday, the governor didn’t pull any punches in the case of how she feels in regards to the hospital programs’ obvious mismanagement and its homeowners’ alleged failure to supply the knowledge she sought and that the regulation apparently requires Steward to furnish.
“The blame, the fault, is with Steward and its management. It, frankly, disgusts me, the fact that a particular CEO came and chose to do what it appears he did, in terms of how he ran operations, and put patients, providers and our communities at risk,” Healey mentioned, the anger in her voice and physique language fairly obvious.
Steward did flip over some “incomplete and insufficient” info to the Healey Administration, in line with the governor’s employees, however the monetary disclosures they acquired are unaudited.
There’s a purpose for that, in line with the governor.
“Steward didn’t produce audited financials, because Steward doesn’t have audited financials,” she mentioned.
“Can I just double down on that?” Mariano chimed. “This has been an ongoing fight since 2012, to get Steward to report their financials.”
Hospitals are a part of a “semi-regulated industry” in Massachusetts, the Speaker mentioned, but as a substitute of offering the monetary info which may have warned lawmakers of their troubles, “they fought— at every turn” to maintain that info secret.
“To the point where they took to court, lost, now they’re appealing the decision. That’s where it is. So, if anyone is feeling sorry for Steward right now, they are crazy, because Steward has practiced the game of ‘hide the numbers,’” he mentioned.
Dallas-based Steward is the most important personal for-profit healthcare community within the U.S. It doesn’t personal the hospital buildings it operates in Massachusetts, however leases the buildings from Birmingham, Alabama primarily based Medical Properties Trust.
A January announcement by MPT that Steward was behind in its lease for its Massachusetts properties by $50 million was adopted a month later by Steward’s announcement it could search a $60 million bridge mortgage to cowl the overdue lease.
Healey’s letter final week appeared to point the corporate had dug themselves into the outlet they’re in, and that their actions aren’t serving to sick Bay State residents get higher.
“For years, you have refused to engage in the same level of basic transparency that every other system in Massachusetts offers by not releasing your audited financial statements,” wrote Governor Healey. “Your continued refusal to do so, particularly at this moment, is irresponsible and an affront to the patients, workers, and communities that the Steward hospitals serve. It also leads to a further breakdown in trust and creates a major roadblock to our ability to work together to resolve this effectively.”
In a response to the letter, Steward mentioned they’ve tried to be “transparent, compliant and cooperative” and can “commit” to do higher. Steward additionally instructed state officers they don’t have the required audited monetary statements, in line with the administration.
When requested what, if any, motion the state may take to pressure Steward to conform together with her calls for to supply their monetary info or to exit the Massachusetts hospital market, the governor mentioned she would “continue to do what we’ve been doing.”
“This is something that has been a top focus of my administration and (Health and Human Services) Secretary Walsh for the last several weeks now. We are focused on protecting patients and protecting jobs. Protecting the stability of our healthcare system,” she mentioned.
“This is a problem that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts did not create. One individual and one management team at Steward created this mess and it has put a lot of people at risk, caused a lot of understandable concern, and makes a lot of us really — really — angry about what transpired,” she mentioned.
Steward operates Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and Methuen, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton. The firm additionally owns New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, although that facility is being closed, and Norwood Hospital in Norwood, which closed in 2020 resulting from flood harm.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”