As bankruptcy hearings begin, nurses call on Healey and other state leaders to keep Steward hospitals open
What do Steward Health Care and Alex Jones have in common? A bankruptcy judge
Place your bid: Steward’s proposed auction plan gets bankruptcy judge’s buy in
If you find yourself in the market for a slightly used hospital then this may be your summer, after a Texas bankruptcy judge said he’d allow the sale of dozens of Steward Health Care System hospitals to move forward.
On Monday, attorneys for Dallas-based Steward told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez that any delay in the sale of the hospitals could impact the company’s ability to stay afloat through the Chapter 11 proceedings and might stifle the interest of potential buyers.
Lopez said that he understood the need for the company to move forward with their plans and that he’d allow their proposed sales schedule.
“I’m not picking a winner today, we’re picking a process that will allow the parties’ rights and provides transparency,” Lopez told the more than 300 groups and individuals listening to the court proceedings via teleconference.
“Today is just step one in a process, I understand, but an important one,” Lopez said. “Today, I will approve the motion.”
Steward declared it would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections at the start of May, following months of reporting on its financial difficulties. The company later announced it would sell off its hospital properties, with most of the facilities due to go up for auction at the end of June.
The company operates more than 30 hospitals nationally and eight in Massachusetts.
Andrew Troop, an attorney from New York-based law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman speaking on behalf of both Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office and the Healey Administration’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services, warned the court that even with the judge’s approval of Steward’s auction plan, and even if the powers that be in the Bay State concurs with a proposal to buy any or all of the hospitals, the state will still need to take the time required to vet any potential hospital buyer and go through the licensing process.
“Many of these sales — all of these sales — are going to require some kind of regulatory approval and the rights that we reserved include all of those rights with regard to regulatory approval,” Troop said.
“We all support a fair, as quick as possible, set of timelines” to move forward with the sale of Stewards properties, Troop said, but the regulatory burden on the state includes its own timeline that is “at best unclear,” he told the judge.
“There needs to be an evaluation of the stability of the new license holder. That process will have to take place in accordance with necessary regulatory parameters,” Troop said.
Lawyers for the U.S. Government warned that they too had their own processes to go through with Steward, specifically antitrust considerations surrounding a proposed sale of the now-bankrupt company’s physician management group to another health care company.
Any approved sale, they said, would still need to pass the government’s antitrust sniff test, and “no sale can be consummated prior to conclusion of the United States’ antitrust review.”
Lopez said he was satisfied that Steward had worked through any objections raised by interested parties, even if the conclusion reached was that the rights of those parties would be preserved as proceedings continue forward.
The first round of Steward hospital auctions, including those in Massachusetts, will be held on June 27, with bids due June 24. A subsequent sale hearing on the matter scheduled for July 11. The healthcare system’s remaining hospitals, four in Texas and several in Florida, will be auctioned on August 13, according to court filings.
Steward facilities in Massachusetts include Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton. The company’s Norwood Hospital has been closed since 2020 due to flooding, and the company recently closed New England Sinai Hospital permanently.
A website and a hotline were launched for Steward patients seeking additional information. The website is dedicated to Steward hospitals in Massachusetts. Patients can find that information at mass.gov/StewardResources or by calling the patient hotline at 617-468-2189 (for local callers) or 833-305-2070 (toll-free).
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