Gov. Healey gives Steward its marching orders

 
This is the mindless reporting from MASSterlist

Reported elsewhere - the closing of QUINCY HOSPITAL left 70,000 without health care as well as healthcare workers abandoned.   



HE DOES, IN FACT, OWN 2 $40 MILLION YACHTS!


From MASSterlist

Looks like Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre has made the governor's naughty list. 

After "many months of discussion" about the fiscally flailing hospital system, Gov. Maura Healey took pen to paper on Tuesday to demand de la Torre clue the state in on the details of their financial peril, and prepare a plan to transfer the system's seven running for-profit hospitals to another operator "as soon as possible."

"You have refused to comply with the court order and continued to delay and obfuscate," Healey wrote to de la Torre, referencing a prior push to get the system to hand over some financial information. "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."

That makes two of the Beacon Hill "Big Three" that have strongly rebuked the Steward Health Care operator in the past month. 

House Speaker Ron Mariano still seems miffed over the closing of Steward-operated Quincy Medical Center in 2014, which left Quincy as the largest city in New England without a hospital. 

"I've been dealing with Ralph for a long time and I am suspect of everything he tells me," Mariano said of de la Torre last week.

Steward, for its part, contends that it in fact provided "audited financial documentation" to state regulators late last year and early this year, and that it wants to work "cooperatively with the Governor on a solution we all agree must be found to guarantee continuity of care for more than one million patients in the vulnerable communities we serve throughout the Commonwealth."

Should any of the system's facilities fail to provide proper staffing and supplies, Healey warned the state will take "all actions necessary" — potentially including pausing admissions, canceling procedures or shuttering beds.

And while de la Torre is facing the heat, at least he reportedly has a $40 million yacht where he can kick up his feet. — Sam Drysdale