Slamming Steward Health Care executives for "really despicable" conduct, Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday that she wants Massachusetts and federal regulators to conduct a thorough review of a proposal that would sell Steward's physician network to for-profit insurer Optum.
Healey faced questions during an interview on WBUR's "Radio Boston" about whether she supports the proposed sale and what might happen if it does not go through.
"What needs to happen is the relevant regulatory agencies need to be able to do their job. That's the Health Policy Commission here in Massachusetts and the U.S. Department of Justice, which is currently reviewing the matter," Healey replied. "I have faith in those processes and that they'll be able to do the look that they need to do, provided that Steward provides documents."
Steward, the hedge fund-backed organization whose financial crisis has thrust it into the spotlight, for years has been fighting state officials over access to financial records that Massachusetts requires from hospitals. Healey on Tuesday referenced her work as attorney general on litigation against Steward seeking access to the relevant information, and she called on the system to "come clean and provide the documents."
After months of public scrutiny about Steward's rocky financial footing, regulators announced last month they were reviewing a potential sale of the Stewardship Health physician network to Optum Care, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. But HPC leaders warned on April 11 that "key information from the parties is still outstanding," and nearly every member of the state's Congressional delegation penned a letter last week voicing skepticism about whether the deal would actually help the state.
Healey's administration is hosting closed-door meetings with other health care providers about impacts from Steward upheaval. She took aim at the for-profit organization and CEO Ralph de la Torre, whom she described as "the one with a couple of yachts."
"Steward has been really despicable in how they have conducted themselves here -- not the docs, not the nurses, not the people who work in and even manage the Steward facilities, but the Steward leadership in Dallas, Texas, what they've done in terms of stripping all the assets and resources out of these facilities that are so imperative and important for providing care to the community," she said.
