Steward Health Care delayed the sale proceedings for its four Arizona hospitals, marking the second time in a week the health system has pushed back the timeline for court-supervised hospital divestitures.
The system, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, said in a Saturday court filing it postponed the auction of its Arizona facilities from July 18 to Aug. 2. Last Tuesday, the system indefinitely delayed sale proceedings for its five hospitals in Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
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Steward did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bids for the Arizona hospitals were originally due Monday but have been pushed to July 29.
It is the second delay of the timeline for a sale of the Arizona hospitals. Steward previously postponed the bid deadline for the Arizona facilities along with the system's Massachusetts sites, St. Joseph Medical Center in Texas and Stewardship Health physician network.
Monday is the bid deadline for parties interested in the Texas hospital and the physician network. UnitedHealth Group's Optum ended its bid to purchase the physician network in June.
The Dallas-based system plans to divest its entire 31-hospital network and physician group. Last month, Steward said it secured $225 million in debtor-in-possession financing from existing lenders. In May, the system received $75 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its landlord, private equity group Medical Properties Trust.
