Council Calls for Preservation of Steward Hospitals

Steward Health Care System, LLC (Steward) is an integrated healthcare system and one of the nation’s largest private for-profit healthcare networks, owning over 30 hospitals in nine states, including Carney Hospital (founded in 1863 in South Boston) in Dorchester and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center (founded in 1868) in Brighton.

Many of Steward’s hospitals are designated by the Commonwealth as “High Public Payer” hospitals and by the federal government as “Disproportionate Share Hospitals” due to their high ratios of low-income patients who are either uninsured or rely on government-sponsored insurance programs such as Medicaid (MassHealth) and Medicare.

As Steward Health Care filed for bankruptcy, the nine hospitals operated by Steward in Massachusetts are now trying to find new owners who will operate these hospitals in a responsible manner in order to continue serving patients across our state.

Both Carney Hospital and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center are Steward facilities that serve some of our most vulnerable residents in Boston. The loss of Carney Hospital and/or St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center would pose significant risk to the health and well being to the communities served by these facilities, particularly a significant population of BIPOC and economically disadvantaged residents.

The Council adopted a resolution calling for commitment from the state government to ensure the preservation of all Steward hospitals in Boston.