Expressing uncertainty about the future of safety-net hospitals owned by Steward Health Care, Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said Wednesday that state overseers will expand their monitoring of all nine facilities by next week in their bid to protect patient safety and quality.
Department of Public Health surveyors added Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Morton Hospital in Taunton to their list of monitoring visits this week as Steward grapples with major financial problems that have prompted fears about potential facility closures, Goldstein said. Monitors are evaluating staffing levels, services, supplies and equipment to “assess that the hospital has what it needs and is required to have to deliver safe and high-quality care in each of the facilities,” he said.
Goldstein said DPH officials have already been paying daily visits for “several weeks” to St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill, and Holy Family Hospital in Methuen. Steward’s hospitals serve primarily low-income vulnerable residents who have public health insurance coverage.
“In addition to the monitoring, DPH is investigating any specific quality or safety concern that arises, and we’re working with federal regulatory agencies to address issues as appropriate,” Goldstein told the Public Health Council on Wednesday morning. “We’re talking with hospitals and leaders from across Massachusetts, recognizing that what happens at Steward facilities will have impacts on emergency departments, inpatient facilities and ambulatory clinics across the state.”
Steward earlier this month announced it had secured major bridge financing to help stabilize the for-profit company. In his message to employees, Steward Executive Vice President Dr. Michael Callum emphasized there are no plans to shutter any of its Massachusetts hospitals, though he signaled some properties may eventually come under new ownership.
Before Steward’s serious financial distress made headlines, the company had started the process to close its New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton this spring due to multi-million-dollar losses.
Goldstein, addressing speculation that additional Steward hospitals may close, said, “The bottom line is at this time, we do not know what the future of Steward hospitals will be.”
“It’s likely that there will need to be some reorganization, reconfiguration, transition and potential closures for Steward hospitals and the health care they deliver,” Goldstein continued. He described uncertainty about hospital closures and a shifting health care landscape as “unsettling” and “unnerving.”
Gov. Maura Healey, addressing the council during its virtual meeting, invoked her past experience dealing with Steward as attorney general.
“In fact as attorney general, we aggressively sought greater transparency and disclosure from this entity,” Healey said, reflecting on her office taking Steward to court to seek financial information. “I am frustrated with where we are right now as a state and what Steward has done. That said, our job is to work together to make sure that patients are protected, that our health care providers are protected and able to continue to do the important work that they do throughout the state, and that the stability of our health care system is protected.”
Healey called the challenges at Steward an “urgent priority” for her administration.
Goldstein said administration officials have been speaking with Steward leaders for “many months.” Steward needs to give the state a sense of its plan to deal with its financial challenges, he said.
“It must develop a reasonable plan and relay that plan and a timeline to us, and then work with us to move the process forward. Right now, we don’t know what Steward will do or what the pathway to a resolution looks like,” Goldstein said. “The Healey-Driscoll administration, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services and DPH have been planning for various scenarios, with a commitment to safety, quality and maintaining access to essential services, especially for those who are most vulnerable in our communities. We’ve also focused on what we need to do to protect and preserve jobs, and to keep workers safe.”
Council member Dr. Edward Bernstein of the Boston University School of Medicine asked about the state’s power to pursue receivership or other tools to hold Steward accountable as the state braces for a public health emergency. He also raised concerns about poorer patient health outcomes at hospitals backed by private equity investments.
“I think we are certainly doing the appropriate due diligence to make sure we understand what those authorities would grant -- we had experience from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we have experience from other public health emergencies,” Goldstein responded. “And we are thinking very thoughtfully with people across state government, what resources we may need, what legal authorities we may need in the various permutations of what could happen here.”
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