Steward Health granted emergency aid to maintain hospitals afloat throughout chapter course of

Steward hospitals in Massachusetts will have the ability to stay one other day with one other mortgage infusion permitted in chapter court docket to maintain the services limping alongside.

“I’m satisfied, based upon the record before me here, that the relief request is warranted, and it’s warranted now,” mentioned U.S. Chapter Courtroom Decide Christopher Lopez on Wednesday. “And I’m going to grant it.”

Steward Health Care representatives got here earlier than the chapter court docket decide to request approval of a $225 million mortgage to maintain their hospitals functioning through the bidding course of to unload the services. Steward owns eight functioning hospitals in Massachusetts.

A number of events, together with representatives from Massachusetts state authorities and the owner of a number of Steward services Medical Properties Belief, spoke in favor of the extra funding on the listening to.

Audio system acknowledged that the loans had been “critical” to persevering with to function the hospitals safely, whereas expressing restricted issues concerning the particulars of the brand new association in gentle of the continued precariousness of Steward’s monetary mismanagement and future.

“While we hope that ultimately all hospitals will receive bids, and there will be new operators for each of those hospitals, we are obviously concerned about a situation when there’s no bid for a particular hospital,” mentioned Hugh McDonald, a lawyer representing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, noting the mortgage settlement leaves who’s financially accountable for hospital that aren’t bought “ambiguous.”

Even when a hospital is in the end closed, McDonald mentioned, there must be satisfactory funding through the 120 day closure notification course of.

An MPT consultant clarified that they “have made no such commitment to fund hospitals that don’t receive a bid on a working capital basis at any particular point in time.”

Events agreed to maintain engaged on language, applauding the choice to maintain funding the hospitals within the interim.

Healthcare staff at Steward services represented by the 1199SEIU union additionally heralded the judges choice and known as for extra state help in a press release Wednesday.

“The Massachusetts healthcare system is already stretched past the breaking point, and any hospital closure or service reduction would result in patients not receiving the life-saving care they need in their community,” mentioned 1199SEIU govt vice chairman Tim Foley. “We need our state leaders to take aggressive action now to prevent hospital closures and protect our patients, who deserve to be cared for in their communities.”