A powerful Senate committee plans to commence a bipartisan investigation into the Steward Health Care meltdown next week.
The Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will convene next Thursday for a vote to officially kick off a probe into the insolvent Dallas-based health system. Steward Health Care Chair and CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre will be subpoenaed to testify at a hearing Sept. 12, HELP Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and ranking member Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said in a news release Thursday.
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“Given the serious harm and uncertainty Steward’s bankruptcy and financial arrangements are having on hospitals, patients and healthcare workers throughout the country, Dr. de la Torre has given us no choice but to compel him to testify at this hearing,” Sanders and Cassidy said.
De la Torre declined to attend a HELP Committee hearing last month and a subcommittee session in April.
"We have a number of questions to ask Dr. de la Torre about the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care and the financial arrangements leading up to its insolvency. It is time for Dr. de la Torre to answer them before Congress and the American people,” Sanders and Cassidy said.
A Steward Health Care spokesperson declined to comment.
The for-profit company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, seeking to sell its 31 hospitals, its physician group and other assets this summer. Earlier this year, Steward Health Care shuttered hospitals in Beaumont, Texas, and Stoughton, Massachusetts. The company also sold five hospitals and 35 clinics in Utah to Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health last year.
Since declaring bankruptcy, Steward Health Care has struggled to pay vendors and its landlord, Medical Properties Trust, stoking congressional concern about additional hospital closures.
The health system continues to delay the sale proceedings for its hospitals and its physician group, Stewardship Health. Steward Health Care had set a Monday deadline for potential buyers to bid for Stewardship Health but extended it to next Monday. An auction is scheduled for next Thursday.
UnitedHealth Group subsidiary Optum withdrew its bid to acquire Stewardship Health last month. At the time, a Steward Health Care spokesperson cited a challenging Justice Department review as the reason.
Democratic lawmakers such as Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have highlighted Steward Health Care's deals with the private equity group Cerberus Capital Management and the real estate investment trust Medical Properties Trust, which they blame for its financial problems.
The Steward Health Care collapse partly inspired Massachusetts and a number of other states to enact laws restricting private equity deals in healthcare.