Steward Health Care has entered into definitive agreements to sell Taunton, Fall River, Methuen, Haverhill hospitals

DALLAS-Steward Health Care today announced that it has entered into definitive agreements to sell certain Massachusetts-based hospitals. Under the terms of the asset purchase agreements, Lifespan will purchase Morton Hospital and Saint Anne’s Hospital and Lawrence General Hospital will purchase Holy Family Hospital – Methuen and Holy Family Hospital – Haverhill. Additionally, the parties are finalizing an agreement to sell Steward’s Good Samaritan Medical Center and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center operations to Boston Medical Center. The transactions are subject to customary closing conditions, including Bankruptcy Court and regulatory approvals.

“As Steward continues to progress through the ongoing Chapter 11 proceedings, we are thrilled to have identified such qualified acquirers for hospitals in the Commonwealth that are critical to the health of underserved populations,” said John Castellano, Steward’s Chief Restructuring Officer. “In Lifespan, Lawrence General Hospital and Boston Medical Center, we have found partners with established track records of treating communities in the northeast United States. Through these transactions, the people of the Commonwealth will continue to receive critically needed care while Steward continues to focus on its ongoing Chapter 11 process.”

Steward is represented by Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Restructuring Counsel), McDermott Will & Emery LLP (Regulatory Counsel), 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 at 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, released the following statement in response to news that Steward Health Care has finalized the sales 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 brinksmanship of Steward and its investors. Now, with Steward’s greed and mismanagement in the rear-view mirror at these sites, we can turn our full attention to the essential work of rebuilding our hospitals and caring for our patients.

“We urge Steward to quickly finalize the sale of St. Elizabeth’s and Good Samaritan, so that healthcare workers —and the patients who rely on our care — can stop living in fear, and focus on the future. We are grateful to Governor Healey and her administration and to the Legislature for their leadership in preserving these six hospitals, and for their commitment of the substantial resources that are needed to stabilize our healthcare system.

“With the closures of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center imminent, we continue to call on Steward and its investors to pay all laid-off workers what they are owed in accumulated PTO and severance pay. We also insist that the state work to preserve critical services that Carney and Nashoba Valley patients depend on, including emergency services, urgent care, full-service pharmacies, behavioral health services, and primary/preventative care.”

“Massachusetts is turning a new page in our healthcare system today, but workers will not forget how Steward’s investors spent years draining resources from these hospitals to fuel their profits. They still need to be held fully accountable for their misconduct and greed.”

Formed in 1994, Lifespan is a not-for-profit health system based in Providence, R.I. It is comprised of the three teaching hospitals of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University: Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital; The Miriam Hospital; and Bradley Hospital, the nation’s first psychiatric hospital for children. Lifespan is also comprised of Newport Hospital, a community hospital offering a broad range of health services; Gateway Healthcare, the state’s largest provider of community behavioral health care; Lifespan Physician Group, the largest multi-specialty practice in Rhode Island; and Coastal Medical, a primary care driven medical practice. Later this year, Lifespan will become Brown University Health.  

Lawrence General Hospital, established in 1875, is a private, non-profit community hospital providing the Merrimack Valley and Southern New Hampshire. It achieved the Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission in 2022, the health care industry’s pre-eminent accrediting body. The Joint Commission accredits more than 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States and is a leader is promoting patient safety within the health care industry.  

“This agreement accomplishes 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 their and their team’s incredible leadership and work navigating us through this challenging time. I welcome Lifespan, its leadership and team to Southeastern Massachusetts and appreciate Lawrence General Hospital for stepping up to preserve care in the Merrimack Valley. All of us will work hard to bring this over the finish line,” said Governor Maura Healey. “We continue to work as quickly as possible to complete the agreement for another qualified operator to take over Good Samaritan, move forward on our plans to take control of St. Elizabeth’s through eminent domain, and support the communities impacted by the upcoming closures of Nashoba Valley and Carney Hospitals.”  

“From the start, our priority has been to stabilize health care in eastern Massachusetts, and today we have a path forward to accomplish that for Saint Anne’s, Morton and Holy Family Hospitals,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh. “My immense gratitude to everyone who worked so hard to get us here – not only the new operators and health care community leaders across the state, but the many employees of these facilities who have had months of not knowing what the future would look like. We would not be where we are today without your dedication and perseverance.”  

“Today marks a significant milestone following 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 Bankruptcy Court’s approval, transition these two valued hospitals to Lifespan ownership,” said Lifespan President and CEO John Fernandez. “We share the Commonwealth’s goal of preserving and protecting access to care – and we firmly believe that the addition of Saint Anne’s and Morton hospitals creates a unique opportunity to build our regional healthcare organization that will benefit the health of the communities in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Our team at Lifespan echoes the Commonwealth’s gratitude to the dedicated physicians, nurses, and staff of Saint Anne’s and Morton and, pending requisite approvals, looks forward to working with their talented teams as we enable these two important community assets to continue providing the exemplary care they are known for.”  

“We are pleased to announce that, with support from 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 & CEO of Lawrence General Hospital. “We are excited about the opportunity to build a true regional healthcare care system in the Merrimack Valley, one that puts quality and safety at the forefront of everything we do and is guided by the principle of caring for our community. We are grateful to the many stakeholders who have helped in this process, including our federal and state legislative delegations, local officials, and the unions who represent employees at Holy Family Hospital.”