Dive Brief:
- Boston-based Steward Health Care System has refused to submit its consolidated financial statement for 2013 to state regulators, which has led the state to impose a fine of $1,000 per week that now totals $12,000. The fines coincide with Steward's attempt to close 196-bed Quincy (MA) Medical Center.
- Steward, founded in 2010 and owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, does provide the state with financial information for its individual hospitals. However, while the for-profit system has provided consolidated financial statements twice in the past, it refused to do so for 2013.
- Steward claims it should not be required to submit the statement because the document includes information about non-hospital businesses that are not covered by state regulation. Brooke Thurston, a Steward spokesperson, said the statement contains "confidential information that as a private, investor-owned, tax-paying entity is not relevant," according to the report.
Dive Insight:
Steward Health Care System's financial quandary sounds like a frustrating plight—and the state fine seems a bit hefty. This isn't the least of the organization's headaches—Steward's struggling Quincy Medical Center's closure was recently pushed back to February by Attorney General Martha Coakley, who in a letter said the original Dec. 31 closing date would have violated an agreement with the state requiring 90 days notice between Steward Health Care System's notification to state officials, which happened on Nov. 6, and the official date of closure.
The bigger trend is that hospitals have a harder time keeping their doors open—and Quincy's closure will be the largest hospital closure in Massachusetts in 10 years. But Steward has already begun transitioning care at Quincy Medical Center (QMC) to what it calls "a more sustainable outpatient healthcare delivery network" in Quincy, MA.