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Lawmakers have sent Gov. Maura Healey a bill designed to unlock a new future for a hospital property in Norwood and a lawmaker from that town delivered a late-night speech Friday imploring the property's owners to "get out" of Massachusetts.
With Healey's signature, the legislation (H 5553) would give Massachusetts the authority to take the property occupied by the under-construction Norwood Hospital by eminent domain.
Rep. John Rogers of Norwood addressed the property's landlord — Medical Properties Trust, an Alabama-based real estate investment trust — on the House floor before the branch concluded its last scheduled formal session of 2026.
"To Medical Properties Trust, way say to you get out, get out of Massachusetts," Rogers said. "We don't want you here anymore — not sure we ever did. The men and women of the House of Representatives here in Massachusetts voted to chase you out. But we're going to give you three months, three months. Cut a deal with a qualified nonprofit hospital operator that we'll accept."
U.S. Representative Stephen Lynch issued a
statement on Facebook following his testimony at the hearing in support
of the bill and on behalf of his constituents which include residents
of Norwood, Westwood, and the surrounding community.
He said, “We’ve got real challenges with
healthcare in Massachusetts. The for-profit model did not work. And so
we’re here to fight the fight today to return not-for-profit healthcare
to Massachusetts on the site of Norwood Hospital.”
Medical Properties Trust responded late Tuesday with their own position on the evolving situation...
Congressman Lynch and MPT disagree about how hospital real estate should work in this country. That is a real policy debate, and it will not be settled in a press statement. What we would ask is that Norwood be judged on what has actually happened at Norwood.
Since the flood, MPT is the only party that has put money into this site. More than $350 million of its own capital, with no public dollars and no state appropriation. When Steward stopped paying its contractors in early 2024, before the bankruptcy filing, MPT assumed those contracts and paid roughly $40 million owed to Massachusetts firms and to the tradespeople working on that site, so the work would not stop. On this property, capital has gone in, not out.
MPT is a publicly traded real estate investment trust, not a private equity firm. And on the outcome the Congressman cares about, there is no daylight between us. Norwood should reopen under a qualified nonprofit operator. MPT is prepared to consider financing the completion of the operator-specific buildout.
