BOSTON — Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging federal officials to support patients and providers in communities impacted by Steward Health Care System’s bankruptcy.
In a letter to Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, Warren calls on the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide grants, technical assistance and other support to help communities and health care providers impacted by Steward’s pending sale of its hospitals.
Warren said the future of Steward’s eight Massachusetts hospitals “remains uncertain” with the company trying to sell them as part of the bankruptcy process.
“Ultimately, my hope is that the hospitals exit from bankruptcy under new ownership, the health care system in the state emerges more cost-effective and competitive, health care providers and hospital workers keep their jobs, and patients retain access to high quality care in their communities,” she wrote.
Steward, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas on May 6, said it plans to put its 31 U.S. hospitals up for sale — including eight in Massachusetts — beginning next month to help whittle down $9 billion in outstanding liabilities.
The company is the largest private for-profit hospital chain in the country, operating 31 hospitals across eight states — including Holy Family Hospitals in Methuen and Haverhill — and employs more than 30,000 people, according to its website.
Steward’s management cited an increase in operating costs and insufficient federal government-program reimbursement among the factors leading to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The company owes creditors more than $9 billion, according to filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
After the filing, a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas signed off on a plan to appoint an ombudsman to monitor the quality of medical care at Steward’s 31 hospitals in Massachusetts and other states.
Warren blames “private equity-fueled greed, and profiteering” by Steward’s management, including CEO Ralph de la Torre, for the crisis and says she is concerned that the bankruptcy process is “squeezing” other hospitals in eastern Massachusetts.
Gov. Maura Healey, who has also been highly critical of the company’s management, has stressed that Steward’s hospitals will remain open throughout the bankruptcy proceedings and claims that patients won’t go without medical care.
The Healey administration has activated an “emergency operations plan” in response to Steward’s financial woes, including a command center to monitor the company’s hospitals in the state and manage the fallout of a bankruptcy filing.
Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@cnhinews.com