Steward Health Care System failed handy over legally mandated monetary paperwork by the said Friday deadline, the Governor’s Office.
“The financial information that Steward provided this week continues to be incomplete and insufficient,” Karissa Hand, spokesperson for Gov. Maura Healey, stated in an announcement Saturday morning. “What Steward must do from this point forward is clear — complete an orderly transition out of Massachusetts.”
On Tuesday, Healey despatched a letter to Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre demanding the embattled firm flip over long-overdue paperwork to make clear their present monetary state of affairs and the way they obtained there.
The Dallas-based firm, which is the biggest personal for-profit healthcare community within the U.S., owns 9 hospitals in Massachusetts. Steward has come below fireplace for an extended checklist of economic woes uncovered over the winter, beginning with the corporate asserting it’s $50 million behind in hire and adopted by the publicity of a number of lawsuits alleging the corporate has filed false Medicare claims and never paid contractors and workers.
The firm filed to shut New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton within the spring and reportedly didn’t pay contractors to maintain them engaged on Norwood Hospital, which closed on account of flooding in 2020. The state has put in Department of Public Health workers in any respect Steward hospitals to make sure security and high quality care requirements in current weeks.
In her letter, Healey famous the corporate is defying Massachusetts state legislation and a court docket order requiring the corporate to show over audited monetary statements. The lack of awareness on the corporate’s “financial status, operating plans, and contingency strategies” over the past a number of years, Healey wrote, impedes the state’s skill to navigate the disaster and defend staff and sufferers.
“During that time, there have been reports of mismanagement, unpaid vendors, legally questionable practices and exorbitant profits for your equity partners and yourself, all while your hospitals continued to struggle financially,” Healey wrote.
In a response to the letter, Steward stated they’ve tried to be “transparent, compliant and cooperative” and can “commit” to do higher. The firm submitted “all of the audited financial statements that have been prepared” and drafts for years with incomplete audits, Steward stated.
Steward additionally instructed state officers they don’t have the required audited monetary statements, in response to the administration.
Healey stated the corporate ought to discover new operators for the seven hospitals — not together with the currently-closed Norwood Hospital and soon-to-be-closed New England Sinai — “as soon as possible.”
Healey’s workplace didn’t state straight what the subsequent steps are following the missed deadline. The administration stated state officers are reviewing documentation and persevering with to push for transparency and oversight.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”