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None of the deals to transfer six Massachusetts hospitals from bankrupt Steward Health Care to other operators have actually been consummated and they remain under mediation, a Steward lawyer confirmed Thursday during a hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday that deals were in place to sell St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton to Boston Medical Center, for Lawrence General Hospital to buy the Holy Family Hospital facilities in Methuen and Haverhill, and for Lifespan to take over Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River, as long as the deals were finalized and approved (and in the case of St. Elizabeth's, after the state seizes the land). The St. E's eminent domain taking is also being vigorously opposed by the current owner.
Steward was expected to sign purchase agreements related to those hospital sales by Monday for them to be presented to Judge Christopher Lopez on Thursday afternoon. Instead, the Massachusetts sales portion of Thursday's hearing was postponed until Tuesday, Aug. 27 as no finalized deals had emerged by late Wednesday afternoon.
"Although there's a limit to the public update that I can provide, the debtors did want to post the court and parties in interest that they continue to work with stakeholders in connection with the debtor's efforts to transition the hospitals in Massachusetts. We have not yet executed asset purchase agreements related to the six hospitals, but again, we are very close to the finish line and are still fully engaged in mediation," Candace Arthur, one of Steward’s lawyers from the firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, said Thursday. "We hope to be back before the court in very short order in connection with the Massachusetts hospitals and the transition there."
The company filed for bankruptcy protections on May 6 and the Massachusetts hospital sale hearing was originally scheduled to be held July 2, and has since been repeatedly postponed.
