Steward Health Care indefinitely delayed the sale proceedings for some of its hospitals as the system continues to push back the sale timeline for its various assets.
Steward, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, said in a Tuesday court filing it indefinitely postponed the planned July 11 sale hearing for its five hospitals in Arkansas, Louisiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Bids for those facilities were due June 24.
Related: Steward Health Care delays some hospital proceedings
Steward did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last month, Steward pushed the bid deadline to July 15 from June 24 for about a dozen of its hospitals in Arizona and Massachusetts — along with St. Joseph Medical Center in Texas and the Stewardship Health physician network.
Optum, the care division of insurer UnitedHealth Group, rescinded its bid in late June to purchase Stewardship. After the announcement, a Steward spokesperson said in a statement the Justice Department's regulatory review of the proposed deal was challenging.
Steward hasn’t delayed sale proceedings for its eight hospitals in Florida and four in Texas. The bid deadline for those assets is still Aug. 12.
The for-profit, Dallas-based system plans to sell its entire 31-hospital network and physician group this summer. On June 11, Steward secured an additional $225 million in debtor-in-possession financing from some of its existing lenders. In May, its landlord, Medical Properties Trust, approved $75 million in similar financing.
