A "Toxic Combination" For Central Mass. Patients Yet State Pays to Keep Other Hospitals Afloat

Above, Nashoba Valley Medical Center.

The state, Steward Health Care, and the company's lenders and creditors need "to take action to lessen the devastation" that the looming closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer "is having, and will continue have," on people who live in the central Massachusetts region, the expert monitoring patient care at the bankrupt company's hospitals urged in a new report.

Suzanne Koenig, a health care management consultant, urged in a supplemental report filed late Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court that the parties involved keep Nashoba Valley's emergency department open for an additional 30 days, or at least provide funding so an ambulance could be stationed outside the closed emergency room for at least a week after it closes this Saturday morning.

"Nashoba is a community fixture that has provided healthcare to residents for over fifty years. It is the sole emergency department (“ED”) within a thirty-minute radius in a community with limited paramedics and emergency medical services (“EMS”) personnel and no public transportation," Koenig, who is also a senior living facility owner, wrote in her report.

She said the closure of Nashoba Valley will turn a five-minute trip to an emergency department into a half-hour drive, effectively taking EMS workers out of service for an additional 45 minutes during the return trip. She said area EMS providers have staffed the area "for short trips for emergency care," counting on access to Nashoba Valley's ER.

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions from the News Service related to Koenig's report, whether the state was receptive to her requests, and the state's efforts to ensure people served by the closing hospitals know where else to seek care.

So far, the Healey Administration has shown no interest in rescuing either Nashoba or Carney, which is also closing.

State to  Keep Other Steward Hospitals Afloat

Meanwhile, the Healey administration plans to provide additional state financial aid to keep Steward Health Care's for-sale hospitals here open into September as the deals the governor announced nearly two weeks ago still have not materialized.

The Executive Office of Health and Human Services said late Monday night that the state will provide additional financial assistance in light of the latest delay of the court hearing at which the bankrupt company is expected to seek approval of deals to sell five of its Massachusetts hospitals.

The secretariat confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the funding is intended to ensure that Steward's hospitals stay open into September as the company's asset sell-off drags on into a new month. State government previously made good on a deal with Steward to provide $30 million in advance Medicaid payments to keep hospitals here afloat through August.

"These hospitals remain open and providing care throughout this transition, and we are committed to continuing that. We also are pushing for this transition to be completed as quickly as possible," an HHS spokesperson said in a statement. The secretariat did not provide details of the additional funding. The state similarly has declined to provide details of a financial aid package reported to total $700 million meant to help the transition of Steward hospitals to new owners.

Gov. Maura Healey announced on Aug. 16 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 by eminent domain).

No additional details of those apparent deals have come to light since, and Steward has declined to confirm or comment on Healey's announcement. A sale hearing previously planned for Tuesday was delayed until Wednesday, Sept. 4.

Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein told the News Service on Tuesday that the financial support from the state is key to the goal of protecting access to care while also seeing Steward exit the Bay State marketplace.

"We want to make sure that there's a safe transition from Steward as the operator of the hospital to whoever comes in to operate the hospitals next. That support is part of that transition, to make sure that workers get paid and they show up every day to take care of patients, that supplies are delivered and they're there when people need it, and that patients can feel confident that the hospital is safe and is a place where they should get their care," Goldstein said.