HonorHealth takes over 4 of Steward’s hospitals in Arizona; here’s what’s next

PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — One of the largest healthcare systems in Arizona is taking over four hospitals owned by Steward Health Care, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and has come under fire for the alleged mismanagement of St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix.

HonorHealth announced Wednesday that, effective immediately, it has assumed daily operations at the following hospitals across the state:

Mountain Vista Medical Center in Mesa
St. Luke’s Hospital in Tempe
Steward Mesa Hospital – Emergency Room
Florence Hospital in Florence

Multiple outpatient practices are also being taken over by HonorHealth, according to the news release.

“As a trusted healthcare provider and community partner, HonorHealth has a strong track record of patient safety and experience, clinical excellence, and top tier employee and physician engagement,” said HonorHealth CEO Todd LaPorte. “HonorHealth continues to invest in responsible healthcare development where there is a proven need, and we believe assuming operations of these existing facilities is an effective way to optimize our resources.”

HonorHealth says the agreement entails leasing the properties through Medical Properties Trust, which is Steward’s landlord. After a transitional phase, HonorHealth will assume full operational ownership, which is expected to be completed by October.

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Facilities taken over, but St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Care isn’t one of them

Arizona’s Family reported in mid-August that state officials forced St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Care to suspend operations and all patient care.

Later, the Arizona Department of Health Service revealed that it planned to revoke the license due to several violations that posed an immediate danger.

“It was understood that they had a more national strategy for what to do with behavioral health facilities throughout the Steward’s national footprint. And so we were deferring to that. I really can’t even comment more about it, other than to indicate that we were, we were not asked, if you will, to, you know, to consider management to that particular facility,” LaPorte told Arizona’s Family about why the troubled health care facility wasn’t included in the agreement.

A Steward spokesperson told Arizona’s Family Wednesday afternoon that it had no comment about the current status of St Luke’s.

The hospital’s closure came days after the behavioral health center was forced to transfer nearly 100 patients who endured days without air conditioning.

A whistleblower came forward, reporting that the hospital knew there were repeated issues with the building’s HVAC system and that no plan was in place in case of a failure.

“Administration gave no direction of what to do, and it was just chaos,” the unnamed nurse said, who claimed that some patients were in near-100-degree temperatures for over 24 hours.

In May, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that her office was investigating the bankruptcy filing of Steward Health Care. Mayes’ office told Arizona’s Family earlier this week that it was still “closely monitoring the situation to ensure the best interests of Arizonans.”

What’s next?

More than 30 of Steward’s hospitals across the country are being auctioned off in court or have been forced to close.

The Associated Press reported that Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre likely won’t comply with a subpoena to appear before a U.S. Senate committee that is investigating the hospital company’s bankruptcy.

Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Wednesday he is prepared to pursue contempt charges against de la Torre if he fails to show up at a hearing Thursday despite being issued a subpoena.

Sanders said de la Torre needs to answer to the American people about how he was able to reap hundreds of millions of dollars while Steward Health Care, which operated about 30 hospitals nationwide, had to file for bankruptcy in May.

“This is something that is not going to go away,” Sanders told The Associated Press. “We will pursue this doggedly.”

His attorneys said that “De la Torre needs to remain silent to respect an ongoing hospital reorganization and settlement effort.”

The Dallas-based health care provider has been trying to sell its hospitals in several states including Massachusetts, where it received inadequate bids for two of them: Carney Hospital in Boston and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in the town of Ayer, both of which closed last weekend.

Last month, it was reported that there were no public bids for the hospitals in Arizona.

A federal bankruptcy court recently approved the sale of Steward’s other hospitals in Massachusetts.

Lawyers for de la Torre said the U.S. Senate committee is seeking to turn the hearing into “a pseudo-criminal proceeding in which they use the time, not to gather facts, but to convict Dr. de la Torre in the eyes of public opinion.”

“It is not within this Committee’s purview to make predeterminations of alleged criminal misconduct under the auspices of an examination into Steward’s bankruptcy proceedings, and the fact that its Members have already done so smacks of a veiled attempt to sidestep Dr. de la Torre’s constitutional rights,” the letter said.

De la Torre didn’t rule out testifying before the committee at a later date.

Sanders said in a statement that he’ll be working with other members of the panel to determine the best way to press de la Torre for answers.

“Let me be clear: We will not accept this postponement. Congress will hold Dr. de la Torre accountable for his greed and for the damage he has caused to hospitals and patients throughout America,” Sanders said. “This Committee intends to move forward aggressively to compel Dr. de la Torre to testify to the gross mismanagement of Steward Health Care.”

Massachusetts U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren, both Democrats, called de la Torre’s refusal to appear before the committee Thursday outrageous.

The committee’s options include holding de la Torre in criminal contempt, which could result in a trial and jail time; or civil contempt, which would result in fines until he appears. Both would require a Senate vote.

Markey and Warren said de la Torre owes the public and Congress answers and must be held in contempt if he fails to appear before the committee.

“He got rich as private equity and real estate vultures picked apart, and drove into bankruptcy, hospitals that employed thousands of health care workers who served communities in Massachusetts and across the country,” the two said in a joint statement.

“De la Torre used hospitals as his personal piggy bank and lived in luxury while gutting Steward hospitals,” they added.

De la Torre also refused invitations to testify at a Boston field hearing earlier this year chaired by Markey.

Sanders has said de la Torre became obscenely wealthy by loading up hospitals from Massachusetts to Arizona with billions of dollars in debt and selling the land underneath the hospitals to real estate executives who charged unsustainably high rents.

The Associated Press and Arizona’s Family reporter Micaela Marshall contributed to this report.

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