The Steward Health Care crisis rattling Massachusetts is coming to a head as the Dallas-based company says it will close Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.
“Over the past several months, Steward Health Care has been actively working to sell or transition all its Massachusetts hospitals and we are in active final negotiations to sell six of them,” the company said in a statement on Friday. “Despite the extensive sale process, which involved close coordination with lenders and regulators, there were no qualified bids for two hospitals, Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, and, unfortunately, they will be closing.”
The development comes after Gov. Maura Healey indicated on Tuesday that all of Steward’s operational Massachusetts hospitals received bids for purchase during an auction held last week without providing further details.
“We’ve received qualified bids, we’re evaluating those now and it’s currently with the parties right now in New York,” the governor said.
Steward, which operates eight Bay State Hospitals, announced in May that it wasn’t able to keep up with its debts and would need to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Steward’s other facilities in Massachusetts include Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton.
The company’s Norwood Hospital has been closed since 2020 due to flooding, and the company closed New England Sinai Hospital permanently in April.
State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, whose district includes Ayer, in a post on X, said he is calling on Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell to “continue to work to stop any hospital from closing, create transition plan and enforce the 120-day closure law.”
“I’m heartbroken to hear from town of Ayer that @Steward will be closing Nashoba Valley Medical Center,” Eldridge wrote. “A treasured community hospital.”
Friday’s announcement also comes after the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions voted to launch a Congressional investigation into what led Steward to file for bankruptcy protections in May and to subpoena on-the-record testimony from Dr. Ralph de la Torre, who they say is ultimately responsible for the company’s failure and answerable to its patients.
With the committee’s 16 – 4 vote, de la Torre will be required to appear before the lawmakers in D.C. on September 12.
“Under Dr. de la Torre’s leadership, health providers and hospital administrators watched emergency room lines grow, forced to face patients knowing that they did not have the resources nor staff needed to provide the world-class care that Steward and Dr. de la Torre promised,” U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, said Thursday.
Filaine Deronnette, vice president at-large of 1199SEIU, called the closures “devastating.”
1199SEIU represents nearly 80,000 healthcare workers across Massachusetts.
“Steward Health Care’s decision to close Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center is devastating, which will create hospital deserts and exacerbate health inequities in the communities they serve, Deronnette said in a statement. “Patients across Massachusetts will now ultimately pay the price of Steward’s mismanagement if care is pushed miles away and ER capacities reach crisis level.
“The future of care in Massachusetts is at risk, she added. “The healthcare workers of 1199SEIU urge all stakeholders to establish and implement a transition plan that helps mitigate the reduction of care in these communities.”