Steward Medical Group temporarily closes Brockton outpatient cancer center

BROCKTON − Steward Health Care outpatient hematology oncology services have been temporarily paused "because they no longer have a physician to operate the specialty clinic and will reopen when they recruit a new physician."

The SMG Hematology Oncology Infusion Center is located in The Medical Office Building at 830 Oak St.

"The outpatient hematology oncology services have been paused, they are not closed," said Steward Health Care spokesperson Deborah Chiaravalloti. “There are only so many specialists to go around, and we lost ours, so we have to recruit a new physician."

April 4 was the last day patients were seen there, she said.

Hematology oncology offers chemotherapy and supportive services, according to Chiaravalloti.

"We have worked with all our patients to find continuing care," she said. “We offered to transfer their care to another Steward facility. We offered to transfer their care to other hospitals, if that was easier for them."

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“We offered patients their medical records free of charge, if they needed them," she added. "Once the patients went to another location for care, we communicated with those facilities to make sure there was no delay in care.”

“We put as many things as possible in place as we could to support these patients because we know these treatments are essential,” Chiaravalloti said.

According to Chiaravalloti, patients will be notified when a physician is hired and hematology oncology treatments can resume. However, she said, there is no time frame.

Inpatient hematology oncology services at Good Samaritan Medical Center have not been disrupted in any way, she said.

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Radiation oncology services are open for business

In the meantime, Chiaravalloti stressed that there has been no disruption in radiation oncology. Radiation oncology offers radiation therapy and supportive services.

Good Samaritan Radiation Oncology Center, at 818 Oak St., is open for business, she said. "Services there have not been disrupted in any way," she said.

Steward Healthcare has worked and is continuing to work hand-in-hand with the Department of Public Health with this situation, she said.

Steward owes millions in back rent

Back in January of this year it made national news that Steward Health Care, the nation’s largest physician-led healthcare operator, owed at least $50 million in rent to its landlord, real estate firm Medical Properties Trust, and was dealing with numerous lawsuits across the country over unpaid bills to vendors.

Steward owns 9 hospitals in Massachusetts, including Morton in Taunton, Good Samaritan in Brockton, St. Anne’s in Fall River, and a few in the Boston area. Steward has announced it is planning on leaving the Massachusetts market, meaning the operating of these hospitals remain hanging in the balance.

Gov. Maura Healey accused Steward of failing to provide regulators like the Health Policy Commission the full range of financial information they are required to submit under state law.

In addition to the $50 million in back rent owed to Medical Properties Trust, Steward also owes about $50 million more in deferred rent related to the reconstruction of Norwood Hospital, which remains closed since June 2020 due to flood damage.

In February, Steward announced it is entering a financing agreement with lenders to turn things around, maintain operations, and repay debts. Presently, Steward has until the end of April to meet the agreement’s requirements, or face bankruptcy.

Spotlight on private equity ownership of hospitals

Steward community hospitals are considered safety-net hospitals because they receive the majority of their payments from Medicare and Medicaid. This means they usually get lower reimbursement rates than private insurers whose patients often seek out care at academic medical centers.

It also means most of their clientele represent vulnerable segments of the population concerned with retaining access to critical care and health care.

In addition, Massachusetts officials accused Medical Properties Trust, as well as other private equity firms, of slashing hospital budgets in the name of profit.

"When Steward decided to sell out to real estate investors instead of investing in the hospitals here in Massachusetts, they cut quality corners, overworked health providers and let emergency room lines grow," said U.S. Senator Edward Markey during a March 1 press conference after touring Brockton’s Good Samaritan.

News of Steward-owned hospitals’ financial crises came as public health officials were already alarmed by staffing and supply deficiencies at several of these hospitals.

Government intervention?

Gov. Maura Healey has said Steward is not going to be bailed out by the state.

Healey did demand Steward hand over years of financial reports to the state and sent a letter in February to Steward’s CEO deriding "reports of mismanagement, unpaid vendors, legally questionable practices and exorbitant profits for your equity partners and yourself, all while your hospitals continued to struggle financially.”

In addition, state regulators have been in place in all Steward hospitals in Massachusetts, with plans by Healey to expand that oversight.

Selling it off

Back in March, Steward filed to sell Stewardship Health, the parent of Stewardship Health Medical Group, Inc., to OptumCare, a subsidiary of United Health Group.

The proposal is currently being reviewed by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

Additional reporting by Chris Helms from The Enterpriseand Dan Schemer from The Taunton Gazette

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton Steward cancer center closed at Good Samaritan