For closure information (Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center), visit Resources for Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center.
For the rest of the Steward Health Care facilities in Massachusetts, visit Transition to the New Operators.
General information
1. What is the plan for the Steward Health Care hospitals in Massachusetts?
Steward Health Care is leaving the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as it has completed the transfer of five of its Massachusetts hospitals to new operators and closed two hospitals. Commonwealth officials have been working with communities, neighboring hospitals, emergency medical service providers, surrounding community health centers, urgent care centers, community organizations, and other community-based services to support as smooth and efficient a transition as possible for patients, employees, and communities affected by these closures. Working groups have been established comprised of diverse group of stakeholders for the Dorchester region and for the Nashoba Valley region. These groups are gathering input, ideas, concerns, and feedback from the communities to identify ways to meet the needs of the towns and communities affected by the closures of these two hospitals.
2. Should residents feel comfortable going to the former Steward hospitals during this time of transition?
Yes. The new operators – Boston Medical Center, Brown University Health (formerly Lifespan), and Lawrence General Hospital – are all well-respected, high-quality, and well-known hospitals and systems.
3. Why didn’t the state do more to prevent Massachusetts hospitals from closing or at least giving residents more time to organize their transition plans?
The Administration has worked throughout this complex and difficult bankruptcy process to come to an acceptable resolution that would be in the best interests of residents in the Commonwealth. Steward made the decision to close two Massachusetts hospitals, Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, which did not receive qualified bids during the bidding process. The state was able to help five of the Steward hospitals remain open, and the new operators are stabilizing and strengthening these facilities.
The Commonwealth continues to work closely with hospital and health center leadership to support patients, communities, and employees affected by the closures, and maintain access to safe care in communities across Massachusetts.
4. What specifically is being done to support transitions for patients?
The Commonwealth has implemented various measures to address the impact of the hospital closures, including:
- Assisting with helping veterans obtain and transfer care to the VA or other suitable facilities;
- Working to maintain primary care, some specialty services, imaging and other services in the medical office buildings adjacent to the two closed hospitals to preserve access to care;
- Created informational resources, including a Steward transition website, call center, and an interactive map of urgent care centers and retail medical clinics across the state, to help patients, communities, employees, and the public understand transitions and provide resources and contacts for specific questions; DPH provides an interactive hospital capacity dashboard for the public to understand the average monthly inpatient census and emergency department volume at each hospital in the Commonwealth and find some general information about services at the facilities. The monthly updates on patient volumes and available beds may help users make informed decisions about connecting to nearby services. The dashboard is available at Health care capacity interactive dashboard.
5. Will the closures have any impact on health care costs for patients in our community?
Our goal is to minimize the impact of the closures for patients, including the costs. That said, depending on the specific situation, there could be additional costs involved for individuals in seeking and receiving care. For example, if a person has to travel further for care, there could be travel costs incurred. Furthermore, if a person switches providers or insurance coverage, there could also be costs — such as higher co-pays or different out-of-packet maximums — associated with those decisions.
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| Date published: | October 15, 2024 |
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