DALLAS-Steward Health Care announced today that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell certain hospitals in Massachusetts. Under the terms of the purchase agreements, Lifespan will acquire Morton Hospital and Saint Anne’s Hospital and Lawrence General Hospital will acquire Holy Family Hospital – Methuen and Holy Family Hospital – Haverhill. In addition, the parties are entering into an agreement to sell Steward’s operations of Good Samaritan Medical Center and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center to Boston Medical Center. The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions, including bankruptcy court and regulatory approval.
“As Steward continues to move forward with its ongoing Chapter 11 proceedings, we are pleased to have found such qualified buyers for hospitals in the Commonwealth that are critical to the health of underserved populations,” said John Castellano, Chief Restructuring Officer at Steward. “In Lifespan, Lawrence General Hospital and Boston Medical Center, we have found partners with proven track records of serving communities in the Northeastern United States. Through these transactions, the people of the Commonwealth will continue to receive much-needed care while Steward remains focused on its ongoing Chapter 11 proceedings.”
Steward is represented by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (restructuring advisor), McDermott Will & Emery LLP (regulatory advisor), Cain Brothers, a division of KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. (healthcare investment banker), Leerink Partners LLC (healthcare investment banker) and AlixPartners, LLP (financial advisor).
Tim Foley, executive vice president of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, issued the following statement in response to news that Steward Health Care has completed the sale of four of its Massachusetts hospitals to new buyers.
“Healthcare workers are incredibly relieved that after months of uncertainty, four of the eight Steward hospitals are now safe from the financial risk-taking of Steward and its investors. Now that Steward’s greed and mismanagement of these sites is behind us, we can turn our full attention to the important work of rebuilding our hospitals and caring for our patients.
“We call on Steward to quickly complete the sale of St. Elizabeth’s and Good Samaritan so that health care workers – and the patients who depend on our care – can stop living in fear and focus on the future. We are grateful to Governor Healey and her administration, as well as the Legislature, for their leadership in preserving these six hospitals and for providing the significant funding needed to stabilize our health care system.
“As the closure of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center becomes imminent, we continue to call on Steward and its investors to provide all laid-off employees with the paid vacation days and severance pay they are entitled to. We also insist that the state work to maintain critical services that Carney and Nashoba Valley patients depend on, including emergency services, urgent care, full-service pharmacies, mental health services and primary/preventive care.”
“Today, Massachusetts is beginning a new chapter in our health care system, but workers will not forget how stewards investors have spent years draining resources from these hospitals to increase their profits. They still need to be held fully accountable for their misconduct and greed.”
Founded in 1994, Lifespan is a not-for-profit health system based in Providence, Rhode Island. It consists of the three teaching hospitals of the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University: Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Miriam Hospital, and Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first pediatric psychiatric hospital. Lifespan also includes Newport Hospital, a community hospital offering a broad range of health services, Gateway Healthcare, the largest provider of community-based behavioral health care in the state, Lifespan Physician Group, the largest multispecialty practice in Rhode Island, and Coastal Medical, a primary care-focused physician practice. Later this year, Lifespan will become Brown University Health.
Founded in 1875, Lawrence General Hospital is a private, not-for-profit community hospital serving the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. It received the 2022 Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission, the healthcare industry’s leading accreditation body. The Joint Commission accredits more than 17,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States and is a leader in promoting patient safety within the healthcare industry.
“With this agreement, we are achieving our goal of maintaining and protecting access to care and jobs in Southeastern Massachusetts and the Merrimack Valley while removing Steward Health Care from Massachusetts once and for all. I am grateful to Secretary Kate Walsh and Commissioner Robbie Goldstein for the incredible leadership and work they and their team have done to guide us through this difficult time. I welcome Lifespan, its leadership and team to Southeastern Massachusetts and thank Lawrence General Hospital for its commitment to maintaining care in the Merrimack Valley. We will all work hard to get this across the finish line,” said Governor Maura Healey“We continue to work as quickly as possible to complete the agreement for another qualified operator to acquire Good Samaritan, advance our plans to acquire St. Elizabeth’s through expropriation, and support the communities impacted by the impending closure of Nashoba Valley and Carney hospitals.”
“From the beginning, our priority has been to stabilize health care in Eastern Massachusetts, and today we have found a way to accomplish that for Saint Anne’s, Morton and Holy Family hospitals,” said Health Minister Kate Walsh“My deep gratitude goes out to everyone who worked so hard to get us here – not only the new operators and health leaders across the state, but also the many employees of these facilities who spent months not knowing what the future would look like. Without your dedication and perseverance, we would not be where we are today.”
“Today marks an important milestone after months of effort and extensive collaboration with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This partnership will serve as a strong foundation as we take our next steps and, with the approval of the bankruptcy court, transfer these two valuable hospitals into Lifespan’s ownership,” said Lifespan President and CEO John Fernandez. “We share the Commonwealth’s goal of preserving and protecting access to health care – and we firmly believe that the addition of Saint Anne’s and Morton hospitals provides a unique opportunity to build our regional health organization that benefits the health of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island communities. Our team at Lifespan joins the Commonwealth in gratitude to the dedicated physicians, nurses and staff at Saint Anne’s and Morton and, subject to necessary approvals, looks forward to working with their talented teams as we enable these two important community facilities to continue to provide the exemplary health care they are known for.”
“We are pleased to announce that, with the support of the Commonwealth, we have signed an agreement that will allow Holy Family Hospital, both the Methuen and Haverhill campuses, to join Lawrence General Hospital,” said Abha Agrawal, MD, President and CEO of Lawrence General Hospital. “We are excited about the opportunity to build a true regional health care system in the Merrimack Valley that prioritizes quality and safety and is guided by the principle of caring for our community. We are grateful to the many stakeholders who have helped us through this process, including our federal and state delegations, local officials and the unions that represent Holy Family Hospital employees.”
