As Steward Sale Falters, Possible Lifeline for Norwood Hospital Emerges

Late Wednesday night, Steward Health Care said that it has again postponed the sales hearing for its hospitals in Massachusetts, this time to next Thursday.

"[T]he Sale Hearing for the Debtors’ Hospitals in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Massachusetts, previously scheduled for August 16, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. (Central Time), is hereby adjourned to August 22, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. (Central Time)," the company said in a late-night U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing.

This situation has not only left the state’s hospitals in crisis, it has also shown no signs of bringing the new Norwood Hospital to completion and back into service.

Steward has said that it has bids for five hospitals on six campuses in Massachusetts but has not yet revealed the identities of its suitors or the details of offers on the table. The latest in a parade of delays comes the same week that the bankrupt company announced it has "entered into a definitive agreement" to sell its physicians network to a Tennessee-based subsidiary of a New York private equity firm for $245 million in cash. That deal is still up for court approval at a hearing this Friday at 10 a.m., the filing says.

After being contacted by Observer yesterday regarding the fate of Norwood Hospital, Erika Grunwald, a legislative aide to State Rep. John Rogers said he and Senator Mike Rush are working to pass legislation which would authorize the University of Massachusetts Building Authority to purchase and operate Norwood Hospital.

“The aim is to continue construction of the hospital as soon as possible,” Grunwald explained.

Meanwhile, Steward has already received court approval to close Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, but officials have told the court that they "received binding bids from local operators to acquire six (6) of their Massachusetts hospitals which includes Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Saint Anne’s Hospital, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Holy Family Hospital – Haverhill, Holy Family Hospital – Methuen, and Morton Hospital.

UMass Medical itself is also, separately, trying to recover several hundred thousand dollars it is owed by the Steward system.

Grunwald could not supply a timeline for the legislation being crafted by Rogers and Rush.