Roy Poses, M.D., in his Health Care Renewal blog, denounces Steward Health Care, a private-equity creature that will sell off its hospitals but continue to operate all of them.
His comments stem from a Sept. 26 Boston Globe article leading off with:
“Steward Health Care System said that it lined up $1.25 billion from a real estate investment firm that will help the Boston-based company finance a national expansion, pay off debt, and return money to the private equity firm that bought it almost six years ago.
“Steward said Medical Properties Trust Inc. would buy all of its hospital properties for $1.2 billion and pay $50 million for a 5 percent equity stake in the company. Steward will lease the properties from MPT, based in Birmingham, Ala.”
Dr. Poses writes:
“Steward Health Care, as run by Cerberus {a private-equity firm}, was one of the earlier leaders in hiring corporate physicians, whom it pressured to avoid ‘leakage’ of patients to other hospitals and doctors, even if some might question whether the care provided elsewhere might be better for those patients. The multimillion dollar a year CEO of Steward suggested the health care had become a commodity, objectionable to those who thought that health care should be a mission-based calling.
“After Steward consolidated, operational misadventures began. In 2013, it closed the pediatric unit at Morton Hospital {in Attleboro, Mass.} In 2014, it closed Quincy Hospital, despite promises that it would expand health care services, and specifically not close that hospital so quickly. Starting in 2014, Steward stonewalled state requests to disclose financial data as required by state regulations after the private equity takeover. In 2016, Steward continued to withhold financial data and closed the short-lived family medicine residency program at Carney Hospital, amidst complaints by the residents about poor organization, and inadequate numbers of faculty.”
To read Dr. Poses’s entry, please hit this link.
To read The Globe’s story, please his this link.