By Alison Kuznitz, Colin A. Young I State House News Service
The fate of another Steward Health Care hospital in Massachusetts may be in jeopardy.
Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill may also be lacking a bidder to keep its doors open, on top of Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, facilities that Steward plans to shutter by the end of the month due to a lack of qualified bidders.
"I am hearing that Haverhill is not going to be part of the bid, which to me is concerning," Sen Barry Finegold, whose district includes the hospital, told the News Service Friday afternoon. "Haverhill has an incredible campus, it's a great facility, it's a newer facility."
Holy Family has campuses in Haverhill and Methuen, and is one of five hospitals that Gov. Maura Healey says she's trying to save during bankruptcy proceedings unfolding in Texas.
"I understand that the bid is going to be just for Methuen and not for Haverhill. I wanted a regional approach -- we are all in this together," said Finegold, who emphasized the need to keep mental health and emergency services open in the Merrimack Valley.
Steward has said in court filings that all of its hospitals except Carney and Nashoba Valley have advanced from the bidding stage and into sale negotiations.
"Through these efforts, the Debtors have obtained significant interest from prospective buyers in acquiring a number of their hospitals, including in Massachusetts where the Debtors are in active discussions with reputable bidders to sell and transition the operation of Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center, Saint Anne’s Hospital, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Holy Family Hospital – Haverhill, and Holy Family Hospital – Methuen, and Morton Hospital (the “Massachusetts Going Concern Hospitals”) to such parties," according to a motion Steward filed July 26.
Steward Chief Restructuring Officer John Castellano said in a declaration filed the same day that Steward "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."
Under an agreement that a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge approved Tuesday, Massachusetts is to provide $30 million in advance Medicaid payments to keep open through August a handful of Steward Health Care hospitals that are expected to be sold.
But Friday brought a meaningful milestone related to that agreement.
Massachusetts was to pay roughly $11 million on or around Friday and another $19 million on or around Aug. 16, though a Steward lawyer said the second payment was conditioned upon the company "executing purchase agreements with respect to the hospitals and their underlying property by this Friday, August 9, and the issuance ... by the bankruptcy court of an order to approve any sales with respect to the debtors' assets by August 15."
Gov. Maura Healey's office and the Executive Office of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about the status of the Haverhill hospital negotiations Friday afternoon.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association said Friday that losing Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill would be "devastating" for Merrimack Valley residents.
"Thousands of patients will go without care, thousands more will see longer waits for care in already overwhelmed hospital emergency rooms forced to absorb those patients, and far too many will die if the state fails to act to preserve these hospitals," MNA said in a statement. "The Governor and the leadership of our state cannot allow any of these communities to suffer from their lack of willingness to use their power to save these vital health care providers. We again call on the Governor to declare a public health emergency and to work with Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka to provide the bridge funding to allow Holy Family Haverhill and all the hospitals impacted by this crisis to find new operators, which could include accessing the $8 Billion rainy day fund or seizing these facilities by eminent domain."
Legislators have been dumping money into the rainy day fund in recent years and given no indication of any plans to make withdrawals.
Nurses from Carney and Nashoba who recently rallied at the State House had also called on the Healey administration to dip into the rainy day fund to keep their hospitals afloat.
