Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer will shut their doors by the end of August.
The two hospitals are among eight in Massachusetts that bankrupt Steward Health Care had attempted to sell this month, but in a statement sent to GBH News Friday morning, a Steward spokesperson said Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center did not receive any qualified bids.
“There is a difference between a bid and a qualified bid,” the statement says. “As you may know, Steward Health Care owns the hospital operations and license, and others own the property. Not all bidders were deemed qualified to purchase the hospitals and the real estate they occupy, due to a lack of requisite experience and/or a lack of sufficient financial wherewithal to successfully run the hospitals immediately after acquisition. Therefore, they were not considered, and Steward was left with no choice but to close both Carney and Nashoba.”
The statement says the hospitals will close “on or around August 31” and acknowledges the impact on the patients, employees and communities as “regrettable.”
In a written statement, Gov. Maura Healey placed blame for the closures on the “greed and mismanagement” of Steward’s CEO, Ralph de la Torre.
“We want to assure the people of Massachusetts that we have prepared diligently for this moment and will take all available steps to help facilitate a smooth transition for impacted patients and employees,” Healey wrote. “For the remaining hospitals, we know that Steward received several bids to not only maintain but improve five of their hospitals in three key regions. It is time for Steward and their real estate partners to finally put the communities they serve over their own selfish greed. They need to finalize these deals that are in their best interest and the best interest of patients and workers.”
Leaders with the union 1199SEIU, which represents nearly 80,000 health care workers throughout Massachusetts, slammed Steward’s decision in a statement Friday.
“Steward Health Care’s decision to close Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center is devastating, which will create hospital deserts and exacerbate health inequities in the communities they serve,” Filaine Deronnette, vice president at-large of 1199SEIU, said in a written statement. “Patients across Massachusetts will now ultimately pay the price of Steward’s mismanagement if care is pushed miles away and ER capacities reach crisis level. The future of care in Massachusetts is at risk. The healthcare workers of 1199SEIU urge all stakeholders to establish and implement a transition plan that helps mitigate the reduction of care in these communities.”
“People feel like [Nashoba] is a small community hospital — and it is — but it provides a huge impact to the community,” said Audra Sprague, who has worked as a nurse in the emergency department at Nashoba Valley for 17 years. “Our outpatient services, our emergency services, the inpatient care. Now people are going to have to drive 30, 40 minutes to get to an ER before they even get to the front door, no less going in, because now these ERs and all of the facilities are going to have that many more patients to care for.”
Sprague expressed frustration that the state has not done more to prevent the closures.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, whose congressional district includes the Dorchester neighborhood where Carney Hospital is located, said in a statement that the closure will worsen health disparities.
“Like so many healthcare facilities in my district, Carney serves some of the most vulnerable patients in the Commonwealth, including veterans, low-income, Black, and brown folks, and non-English speakers,” the statement said. “This closure will only put their lives further at risk, worsen existing health disparities, and place an even heavier burden on Community Health Centers in [the district], which are already stretched thin.”
In a statement, the Massachusetts Nurses Association appealed the government to keep the hospitals open.
“The nurses and health professionals who have held the line throughout this crisis call on the state and federal governments to ensure the continued operation of these hospitals, because no community is expendable and closure is not a viable or acceptable option,” the Massachusetts Nurses Association said in a written statement, noting that the August 31 closure date announced by Steward would violate a state law requiring 120 days notice to the state Department of Public Health.
“In the interim, we call on the state to enforce its law forbidding hospital closures with less than 120 days’ notice to allow the state time to find a means of preserving these hospitals for the care of these vulnerable communities.”
“This is outrageous,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a written statement. “The closures of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center are the direct consequence of looting by Steward executives, private equity investors, and corporate landlords at the expense of patients, health care workers, and Massachusetts communities.”
Warren and Sen. Ed Markey have introduced legislation intended to prevent mismanagement of health care institutions by private equity funds.
“There is still a process that Steward Health Care must follow that has been set out by the bankruptcy court and the law,” Markey said in a written statement. “So far, Steward has flouted transparency requirements and their obligations to serve their patients – but the eyes of the Commonwealth, the country, and the United States Senate are upon them. Steward must do everything in its power to keep the five hospitals that received bids open and ensure everyone who relies on Steward for their health care can maintain their access to care.”
In her statement, Healey urged Steward to ensure the survival of their other hospitals, which include St. Elizabeth’s in Brighton, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Haverhill, Morton Hospital in Taunton and St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.
“For the remaining hospitals, we know that Steward received several bids to not only maintain but improve five of their hospitals in three key regions,” Healey wrote. “It is time for Steward and their real estate partners to finally put the communities they serve over their own selfish greed. They need to finalize these deals that are in their best interest and the best interest of patients and workers.”
“We will work closely with our Carney and Nashoba patients to help them find the best possible care alternative and with our valued employees and health care professionals to assist with this very difficult transition,” the Steward spokesperson wrote.
