Deals reached to keep some Steward hospitals in Massachusetts open, Gov. Healey says

Gov. Maura Healey announced late Friday morning that Massachusetts will take St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Brighton by eminent domain in order to keep the hospital open while it transitions to a new owner.

The governor said deals in principle have been struck to transition operations at the other four for-sale Steward Health Care hospitals – Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, the Holy Family Hospitals in Methuen and Haverhill and Morton Hospital in Taunton – to new operators.

Lawrence General Hospital would become the operator for both Holy Family campuses, Lifespan would take over Morton and Saint Anne’s, and Boston Medical Center would take over Good Samaritan and Saint Elizabeth’s after the taking process is complete, as long as the deals are finalized. The governor’s office said it has been working with the Legislature on “a fiscally responsible financing plan that includes cash advances, capital support, and maximizing federal matches” to support the transition to new operators.

Healey, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh, and Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein will hold a State House press conference at 1 p.m. Friday.

“Today, we are taking steps to save and keep operating the five remaining Steward Hospitals, protecting access to care in those communities and preserving the jobs of the hard-working women and men who work at those hospitals,” Healey said. “Our team under Secretary Kate Walsh worked day in and day out to secure new, responsible, qualified operators who will protect and improve care for their communities. We’re grateful for the close collaboration of the Legislature to develop a fiscally responsible financing plan to support these transitions.”

A lawyer representing Steward Health Care said in court Friday morning -- about 20 minutes before the governor’s office made its announcement -- that the company is “close” to signing purchase agreements for at least five of its six for-sale hospital campuses in Massachusetts.

“I’m pleased to report we’ve made very significant progress with the parties, in no small part to the efforts of the mediator,” Ray Schrock, Steward’s lawyer from the firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, said Friday. “We’re not quite there yet but we are hopeful that we could close out the remaining issues between, on the one hand, the buyers, on the second between the commonwealth of Massachusetts and our stakeholders, as we move forward toward what we hope is a signing of asset purchase agreements on hopefully all of the six hospitals that we’re trying to sell. But certainly, at least on five, I know we’re very, very close.”

Steward hopes to be “reporting a favorable result on signing the asset purchase agreements for Massachusetts on Monday,” Schrock said.

Steward officials previously told the court that they received binding bids from local operators to acquire six of their Massachusetts hospitals -- Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Saint Anne’s Hospital, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Holy Family Hospital – Haverhill, Holy Family Hospital – Methuen, and Morton Hospital. Last week, some doubt emerged around whether the Haverhill campus of Holy Family was included in the bid for that license, raising the possibility that hospitals beyond Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center could close here.

Schrock said that the outstanding issue related to the sixth hospital was under discussion between the mortgage lender for Steward’s landlord and the Massachusetts state government. On Thursday, Healey called out the lender, Apollo Global Management, and said she has been “very aggressive” about pushing Apollo to sign off on a deal.

“So my hope is that they come to their senses and finalize this so that we can proceed with saving these six campuses,” Healey said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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