What to know about Steward Health Care amid bankruptcy, financial crisis

BROCKTON — Steward Health Care, the operator of eight Massachusetts hospitals, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early Monday morning, according to a statement posted on the company’s website.

The Dallas-based company has been at the center of a year-long financial crisis that began when they were forced to shut down Quincy Medical Center in 2014 after financial difficulties amid complaints of filthy conditions and neglected patients.

Since then, flooding and fires at their hospitals, combined with lawsuits and business dealings gone wrong have plagued Steward.

Here’s everything you need to know about Steward Health Care and where things went wrong for one of the largest private hospital operators in the country.

The Steward Health Care System

The Steward Health Care System (SHCS) is a private, for-profit company that operates more than 30 hospitals in nine states, including 25 urgent care centers and 107 skilled nursing facilities, according to its website.

The company first made headlines in 2010, when its predecessor, Cerberus Capital Management, bought the financially struggling Caritas Christi Health Care System in Massachusetts.

Cerberus created Steward that same year to be led by Caritas Christi CEO Ralph de la Torre, who has been criticized for owning two yachts amid the company’s financial difficulties.

Shortly after, the company bought Quincy Medical Center and Morton Hospital in Taunton in 2011 and has continued to grow throughout Massachusetts and into Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah.

What hospitals does Steward own in Massachusetts?

Steward currently operates more than 30 hospitals, eight of which are located in Massachusetts, including:

• Carney Hospital in Dorchester

• Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton

• Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and Methuan

• Morton Hospital in Taunton

• Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer

• Norwood Hospital in Norwood

• Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River

• St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton

When did Steward Health Care sell off its physical properties?

In 2016, Steward sold all of its Massachusetts properties to Medical Properties Trust, an Alabama-based real estate firm, who in turn, began leasing the buildings back to Steward.

In January of 2024, Medical Properties Trust announced that it was working to collect about $50 million in unpaid rent from Steward as the relationship between the two entities began to crumble.

How many employees work for Steward hospitals?

Steward currently employs more than 30,000 individuals, according to the company's website.

How many patients are cared for under Steward hospitals?

According to its website, Steward’s Health Care Network is made up of physicians who care for around 2.2 million patients annually, providing more than 12 million patient encounters per year. At Steward Medical Group, the company’s employed physician group, physicians provide more than six million patient encounters per year.

There are over 7,900 beds under Steward’s management, according to the website.

What will happen to Steward’s hospitals during Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings?

By filing for bankruptcy, the Dallas-based company will become eligible for debtor-in-possession financing from Medical Properties Trust, the company that owns the buildings Steward operates in. According to the statement, Steward could receive initial funding of $75 million and up to $225 million from the company.

“Steward took this voluntary step today as a necessary measure to allow the company to continue to provide necessary care to its patients in their communities without disruption,” the statement says.

“With the additional financing in this process, we are confident that we will keep hospitals open, supplied and operating so that our care of our patients and our employees is maintained,” Dr. Ralph de la Torre, Steward’s chief executive officer, said.

Despite Steward's claims that its hospitals will stay open, the company already closed down New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton in April of this year.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Steward Health Care bankruptcy: What to know about financial crisis