Sale of Steward Health Care properties complete as transitions begin

BRIGHTON, Mass. — A landscaping crew swarmed over the grounds of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton on Tuesday.

Out front, workers taped over certain portions of its signs, marking a new day for the 110-year-old healthcare facility and its return to not-for-profit status.

At the same time, hospitals in Methuen, Haverhill, Fall River, Brockton and Taunton also became not-for-profit, after nearly 15 years of ownership by the for-profit Steward Health Care.

The company declared bankruptcy last spring, with a plan to sell all its functioning hospitals in Massachusetts by Tuesday.

“Today’s a great day for Massachusetts and a new day for healthcare in Massachusetts,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “A year ago, we faced the spectre of seven hospitals closing and today we can say that we successfully transferred ownership of those hospitals to responsible, good, non-profit systems.”

Those systems include Lawrence General (taking over both the Haverhill and Methuen branches of Holy Family Hospital), Lifespan (taking over Morton and St. Anne’s Hospitals) and Boston Medical Center (taking over Good Samaritan and St. Elizabeth’s).

Last Friday, the state concluded negotiations with the owner of St. Elizabeth’s, Apollo Global Management, and took the property by eminent domain. A spokesperson for the governor said the state will pay Apollo about $22 million for the hospital, which was constructed on eight acres of land.

Currently, a 1/3 acre lot in Brighton is listed at almost $4 million.

That’s why Apollo maintains that the state is undervaluing St. Elizabeth’s. The private equity firm says taking it over by eminent domain is also unconstitutional.

Healey disagrees.

“Apollo’s been a problem from the beginning,” Healey said. “We put forward what we thought was a good value for the property.”

Healey has committed nearly half a billion dollars over the next three years to help the hospitals transition from Steward. About a third of that money will come from expected federal reimbursements.

On Monday, the judge presiding over the Steward bankruptcy case asked the state to pay another $5 million for the Steward properties. Healey said the state did not commit to doing that and is, instead, trying to split that expenditure between the three acquiring partners.

Healey said at the end of the day, thousands of jobs were saved by the bankruptcy deals, and the healthcare system in Massachusetts stabilized.

Apollo is the parent company of Cox Media Group, which owns Boston 25 News.

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

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