Dallas-based Steward Health Care has seen a troubled start to 2024.
The system is $50 million behind on its rent and is looking to offload four of its nine Massachusetts hospitals amid financial difficulties. Additionally, Steward's Medical Center of Southeast Texas is closing its Beaumont campus Feb. 2. Massachusetts' congressional lawmakers are pressing the system to brief them on its financial position, the status of its Massachusetts facilities and its plans to ensure the communities they serve are not abandoned.
Here are 10 things to know about Steward:
1. Steward Health Care owns 33 hospitals in nine states with more than 33,000 employees.
2. Steward is the largest physician-owned private healthcare network in the U.S, according to its website.
3. Steward Health Care launched in November 2010 as an affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, following the acquisition of Caritas Christi Health Care, a financially distressed, six-hospital system based in Boston.
4. Steward is led by Ralph de la Torre, MD, who is the founder, board chairman and CEO.
5. Dr. de la Torre previously was the CEO of Caritas Christi, where he developed the business model for Steward.
6. In 2020, a management group of Steward physicians led by Dr. de la Torre acquired a controlling interest in the system from Cerberus.
7. Steward lost more than $800 million between 2017 and 2020, the last year for which financial data is available, according to The Wall Street Journal.
8. Steward is the largest tenant of Medical Properties Trust, the largest hospital landlord in the U.S.
9. Amid its challenges to pay rent, Steward worked with Medical Properties Trust to develop an action plan that calls for the health system to pursue the potential sale or re-tenanting of certain hospital operations and divestiture of noncore operations.
10. Steward reportedly is working with Weil Gotshal & Manges and AlixPartners, a turnaround consulting firm, to explore options for restructuring due to its financial issues.