Decisions this week will determine access to hospital care for dozens of communities and impact the health and safety of hundreds of thousands of residents across Eastern and Central Mass, and for some communities could precipitate a public health disaster
Friday, August 16 at 2 p.m. (EST)– Bankruptcy Court in Houston to hold a hearing to Approve Sale of Six Hospitals, with the fate of one of those hospitals, Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill, placed in doubt.
The hearing scheduled before Judge Christopher Lopez is to review and approve asset purchase agreements negotiated between Steward Healthcare, their lender and the Commonwealth, which will make public the qualified bidders and potential new operators for Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Morton Hospital in Taunton, St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River and St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton. Until last week, all indications were there would also be a qualified bid and agreement with the state for the purchase and operation of both Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill (which are covered under a single license). On Friday, information surfaced that the bidder for those two facilities altered its bid to exclude Holy Family Haverhill, which would leave another community without a hospital, one that serves a population of more than 67,000 residents.
Tuesday, August 13at 6 p.m. at Florian Hall, 55 Hallet St., Boston – Department of Public Health to hold public hearing on the closure of Carney Hospital, where hundreds of concerned residents, caregivers and officials are expected to turn out to voice strong opposition to the closure and to call on the state to save the facility.
DPH is holding the public hearing as required by the state law governing the closure of essential services, which also stipulates that the provider must provide 120 days’ notice prior to any closure. Steward and the state have claimed there are no qualified bidders to operate the hospital and as of now, the administration has agreed to allow the closure, thus leaving Dorchester, the largest neighborhood in Boston with more than 122,000 residents without local access to acute care services, including an emergency department and more than 70 desperately needed mental health beds. The state is allowing this closure at a time when the city’s other emergency departments are already overwhelmed with patients, and when patients in the midst of an acute mental health crisis can wait for days and even weeks to access a mental health bed anywhere in the state. Last week, the Boston City Council passed a resolution calling on the Governor to declare a public health emergency as part of an effort to preserve the hospital.
Thursday, August 15 at 6 p.m. at Devens Community Center, 31 Andrews Pkwy, Devens – Department of Public Health to hold a public hearing on the closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center, where hundreds are also expected to turn out to voice strong opposition to the closure and to call on the state to save the facility.
As with the community served by Carney Hospital, residents, caregivers, first responders and local and state officials are outraged by the state’s acquiescence to the closure of NVMC, which is located in Ayer and serves more than 15 surrounding communities in North Central Mass. The NVMC closure will deprive more than 150,000 residents of local access to acute care, including life saving emergency care and 20 mental health beds. In response to the closing, the Ayer Board of Selectman last week passed a resolution similar to that passed by the Boston City Council, calling on the Governor to declare a public health emergency in an effort to save the hospital and if need be, to seize the hospital by eminent domain.
The MNA’s Position on These Developments
As the Commonwealth continues to struggle to protect hundreds of thousands of residents whose health and safety has been placed in jeopardy by the Steward crisis, the next few days and weeks are critical, not only for the survival of these hospitals, but for the impact the potential loss of these facilities will have on the entire health care system across Eastern Massachusetts. Our success or failure as a state depends on the WILLINGNESS of all stakeholders to act, and none more so than our leaders throughout State Government who are ultimately responsible for protecting and ensuring the public health for ALL our residents.
We Look with Cautious Optimism for Viable Bids for New Operators for Some of the Steward Hospitals
As to decisions in court on Tuesday regarding those hospitals that will have qualified bidders and new operators, we look forward with great anticipation and cautious optimism that those agreements provide a framework to preserve these facilities in a manner that allows them to continue to provide high quality care for years to come, while respecting the rights and benefits for all employees and caregivers who have held the line throughout this crisis and deserve the utmost protection through this process, as well as our gratitude for all they have done for the communities they serve.
DPH Hearings on Closures Provide Opportunity for the Governor and Other Leaders to Hear Directly from Those Directly Impacted by Their Decision to Fail to Act to Protect Care for Their Communities
Let us be clear, for nurses , health professionals and the entire health care workforce who have held the line throughout this process and are at the epicenter of this crisis working on the frontlines of these hospitals, as well as those providing care in the facilities surrounding the Steward-impacted hospitals, the loss of Carney, Nashoba (and now, the potential loss of Holy Family Haverhill) would deal a devastating blow to our already overwhelmed hospital system, and as such there is no medical or moral justification for inaction by any party involved in this process.
As stated above, the DPH’s scheduling of these hearings is required by the state law governing the closure of essential services, which also stipulates that the provider must provide 120 days’ notice prior to any closure. While we were encouraged to see that the Governor has stated that her administration supports Steward’s adherence to the state law requiring 120 days’ notice before the closure of Carney and Nashoba, we were concerned that that the DPH scheduled these hearings on an expedited basis, with less than seven days ‘ notice, which seems to signal the administration’s willingness to follow Steward’s expedited and dangerous plan to close these hospitals within 30 days.
Regardless of the true motivation for holding these hearings, they provide an opportunity for the Governor and other leaders to face and listen to those who are directly impacted by the state’s decision to allow the closure of these hospitals, and perhaps, in so doing, they could be moved to take steps to save them and avoid a public health disaster. We hope they have the courage attend these hearings.
Menu of Options for State Action to Save All Impacted Hospitals and Protect Communities
In the event the bankruptcy process fails to protect these hospitals and the communities they serve, the MNA has and continues to call on our state’s leaders to exhaust every avenue open to us to protect the public health, including the following options:
- We, along with a growing number of community members and policy makers call on the Governor and local Mayors to declare a public health emergency and exercise state and municipal power under that declaration to prevent closures while viable bidders for all the Steward facilities are found and secured.
- We call on Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka to access whatever funds are needed from the $8 billion rainy day fund to maintain operation of the Steward facilities and to provide bridge funding to secure viable bidders for these hospitals and to foster a safe transition to new ownership. If the loss of these or any hospital impacted by this crisis doesn’t constitute a “rainy day” worthy of accessing these resources to protect these communities, then we don’t know what does.
- And if all else fails, we believe state and local leaders should explore the opportunity of seizing these hospitals by eminent domain as a means of preserving access to life saving care.
For the residents of the Commonwealth, no community is expendable, and all deserve our protection. Our state leaders, along with all stakeholders in this crisis have a pivotal choice to make in the crucial days that follow: we can sit back and allow a corrupt corporation and a limited bankruptcy process to dictate our fate and facilitate an unprecedented public health disaster, or we can all work together, utilizing all of our resources and the tools at our disposal to take back control of our health care system for the good of all. As stated above, the outcome of this process and the lives of thousands rests on those charged with protecting the Commonwealth having the moral courage and the willingness to act.
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Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 25,000 members advance the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.
