Timeline of the state’s lax oversight of Steward Health Care

Massachusetts’s elected officials and state regulators, time and again, failed to discipline, slow, or check Steward Health Care’s aggressive expansion and pursuit of profit. All of which came at the expense of patient care.

A new Globe Spotlight Team investigation shows how state officials spanning multiple administrations took a deferential approach toward the company, softening critical reports and overlooking clear warning signs about Steward’s financial health.

See how the state’s handling of Steward played out, beginning with the Boston-born company’s founding in 2010 and right through its collapse this year.

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  • Closure
  • Improper closure
  • Expansion or application to expand
  • Other

October 2010

Attorney General Martha Coakley approves the sale of six Caritas Christi hospitals, its physician network, and its home care provider organization to Steward Health Care System, a newly formed affiliate of private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The approval comes with several conditions that Steward won’t sell or transfer any hospitals or close psych or detox units for a three-year period.

December 2010

Steward announces it will buy Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill. The state approves the $21 million purchase the following spring.

April 2011

Steward outbids Mass.-based Southcoast Health System for the nonprofit Morton Hospital in Taunton.

September 2011

Coakley signs off on the sale to Steward of the nonprofit Morton Hospital, as well as Quincy Medical Center, which had filed for bankruptcy. Steward agrees that it will not sell or close either hospital for at least 10 years and also agrees to keep making capital improvements after five years.

September 2012

Steward finalizes acquiring the nonprofit rehabilitation hospital New England Sinai in Stoughton for approximately $3.4 million, promising to maintain the hospital and invest $13 million during the next five years.

Summer 2013

Steward closes Morton Hospital's pediatrics unit, which the nurses union says is violating its pledge to maintain the same scope of services.

2014

Steward starts redacting required annual financial disclosures to the state and stops filing any audited financial disclosures after fiscal 2015. Between 2016 and 2017, the state fines Steward a total of $400,000, though it only collects $114,000. After Steward sues the state in 2017 to keep the information secret, the state stops imposing penalties.

2014

Steward applies for permission to build a cardiac cathetherization lab at St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River. Despite a prohibition on opening such labs within a 30-minute drive of an existing one, permission is eventually granted.

July 2014

Steward merges Merrimack Hospital into Holy Family.

December 2014

Steward shutters the 196-bed Quincy hospital — making Quincy the largest Massachusetts city without an acute-care hospital, only the emergency department is kept open. The abrupt closure violates a state law requiring at least 90 days’ notice and a commitment that Steward made with the state to keep the hospital open for at least 10 years. Even so, the state does not take legal action.

June 2015

A report from Attorney General Maura Healey's office concludes Steward has fulfilled its obligations under a state oversight agreement in place since the company’s founding. A lead author of the report later says she believes that Healey's staff downplayed concerns over troubling financial indicators.

2016

In an attempt to better regulate Steward and curb its expansion, state health officials develop a new, stronger law — dubbed by some the “Steward provision” — that would strengthen the Department of Public Health’s authority to deny hospitals’ applications for new expansions if they are not in compliance with state law. The law, passed in 2017, is ignored.

October 2017

Steward abruptly closes the maternity ward at Morton Hospital. The Department of Public Health orders the company to reopen or face fines. Steward files a closure notice with the state in December 2017.

2018

Steward applies for permission to expand by adding surgical beds at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center. The application is granted, despite the "Steward provision."

2020

Steward applies to add a few dozen Level IV substance abuse recovery beds to Morton Hospital.

April 2020

Steward pulls out staff and stops admitting patients to the intensive care units at Nashoba Valley Medical Center and Holy Family in Haverhill without appropriate advance notice. The nurses union says it is tantamount to a temporary closure, but the Baker administration takes no action.

November 2020

Steward closes the emergency room at Quincy Medical Center.

2021

Steward files an emergency application to rebuild and rework Norwood Hospital after a flood.

September 2021

Steward shuts down the adult behavioral health unit at the Holy Family hospital campus in Haverhill, without notifying the state as required under law. Steward says the closure is temporary.

2022

Steward temporarily closes the geriatric psychiatric ward at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton without properly notifying the state as required under law.

December 2022

Steward applies for permission to construct a new behavioral health facility on Good Samaritan Medical Center's campus, saying the 77 beds will replace those previously operating at Norwood Hospital.

December 2023

Steward announces it is closing New England Sinai Hospital.

January 2024

Steward stops staffing the intensive care unit at Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill, effectively closing the unit to patients.

May 2024

Steward declares bankruptcy.

August 2024

Steward closes Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center after no qualified buyers emerge in bankruptcy, without appropriate advance notice to the state as required under law.

September 2024

Steward closes a 32-bed substance abuse recovery and detox program at Morton Hospital in Taunton.

September 2024

A bankruptcy judge approves the sale of five Massachusetts hospitals — Morton Hospital, St. Anne’s Hospital, the Holy Family hospital campuses in Methuen and Haverhill, Good Samaritan, and St. Elizabeth’s — to new operators.

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Credits
  • Reporters: Chris Serres, Liz Kowalczyk, Elizabeth Koh, and Brendan McCarthy
  • Editors: Brendan McCarthy, Gordon Russell, and Mark Morrow
  • Visual editor: Tim Rasmussen
  • Design: Ashley Borg and John Hancock
  • Development and graphics: John Hancock
  • Digital editor: Christina Prignano
  • Copy editor: Michael J. Bailey
  • Audience: Cecilia Mazanec
  • SEO strategy: Ronke Idowu Reeves