Owner of multiple Mass. hospitals says financial losses could jeopardize care

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“This gap has only continued to increase and most community hospitals – including Steward hospitals in Massachusetts – are suffering losses that jeopardize their ability to continue to offer services.”

Steward Health Care, owner and operator of 10 Massachusetts medical centers, says financial difficulties are placing the future operations of their facilities at risk.

New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, Morton Hospital in Taunton, Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and Methuen, Norwood Hospital, Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton are all in Steward’s network.

Steward said their facilities, and other community hospitals, face financial troubles that stem from the pandemic. Since then, the hospital group has been affected by a gap between commercial health insurance reimbursement and reimbursements from federal plans, which “meaningfully trails” commercial, they said.

Steward’s payor-mix, which is a hospital’s measure of patients’ insurance types, is more than 70% Medicare and Medicaid. Steward said this reimbursement gap is affecting community hospitals across the state.

In Massachusetts, the average hospital payor-mix is about 38% Medicare and Medicaid, according to Definitive Healthcare.

“Over the past decade plus, there has been a widening gap in reimbursement for all the state’s community hospitals compared to larger, academic medical centers,” Steward said in a statement. “This gap has only continued to increase and most community hospitals – including Steward hospitals in Massachusetts – are suffering losses that jeopardize their ability to continue to offer services.”

The medical group said they are working with Governor Maura Healey and Attorney General Andrea Campbell to address the disparity in reimbursements and to keep their doors open for communities.

“Steward is advancing an action plan to strengthen its liquidity, restore its balance sheet and put the tools necessary in place to continue forward as a key provider of healthcare services to our patients, communities, physicians, and employees,” their statement read.

In 2023, Compass Medical, a chain of care centers in South Shore, unexpected shut down, leaving 70,000 patients eligible for compensation.