In a Wednesday, May 15, filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Steward Health Care laid out a timeline and “global bidding and auction procedures” to sell its Massachusetts hospitals, including the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.
The document confirms Steward’s intent to sell the hospital’s operations, including its emergency room, intensive care unit and other facilities for the care of patients, but does not rule out a decision to close the hospital should bidders fail to appear. The hospital’s buildings, doctors offices, and other real estate are not for sale.
Nashoba is listed in the filing as one of the company’s “northern Massachusetts’’ hospitals, a list that includes Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Holy Family hospitals in Haverhill and Methuen, and Saint Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton. The three remaining Steward hospitals in Massachusetts are listed as its “southern Massachusetts” hospitals. A fourth, in Norwood, is closed.
According to last week’s 142-page filing, marketing of the hospital began some weeks ago. Steward hired the health care investment bank Leerink Partners of Boston in February to market Nashoba and the company’s other northern Massachusetts hospitals. The document claims that Leerink contacted 80 potential buyers, including for-profit and not-for-profit organizations and provided them with marketing materials. The filing also claims that Steward is “in discussion” with various third parties “interested in purchasing and operating the [Steward] hospitals in northern Massachusetts,” as well as with state officials and regulators to “facilitate the transition of such hospitals to new operators.”
If Judge Christopher Lopez approves Steward’s motion at a hearing scheduled for June 3, interested parties would be invited to bid on Nashoba and other northern Massachusetts hospitals, with bids due June 24. If the company receives multiple qualified bids, an auction will be held June 27 followed by a hearing July 2 to approve the sale to the winning bidder.
Other than its appearance among the names of Steward’s five so-called northern Massachusetts hospitals, the document provides no further information regarding Nashoba’s fate. Previous reporting by the Press found that the hospital operated at a loss from 2020 through the third quarter of 2023. Nashoba’s buildings, like those of the other Steward hospitals, are owned by Medical Properties Trust, which leases them to Steward. Steward is said to owe MPT more than $50 million in rent, and MPT is among the lenders that have provided Steward with loans to continue operating while it is in bankruptcy.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association has said recently that its members were increasingly concerned about public statements, as well as “private conversations with persons with firsthand knowledge,” that the Healey administration may consider it acceptable collateral damage if some of Steward’s Massachusetts hospitals do not survive.
A lack of commitment?
A spokesperson for the union told the Press this week that the nurses association is “deeply concerned” about what it perceives to be a lack of commitment by the Healey administration, the attorney general, and the Legislature to have a plan or to take responsibility for ensuring the survival of all these facilities, no matter what happens with the bankruptcy process.
“We are particularly concerned that this view is repeatedly heard in relation to Dorchester’s Carney Hospital, Haverhill’s Holy Family Hospital, and Ayer’s Nashoba Valley Medical Center. Nor do we have any clarity on the future of Norwood Hospital currently under construction.”
The Nashoba hospital and emergency room remain open with a state Department of Health monitor on site. State law requires 120 days notice for any closure.
