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Nov 11, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis
STEVE WALSH, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, struck a nerve with his recent commentary suggesting the state’s hospital industry is teetering on the brink of financial disaster. In his piece, Walsh noted the Center for Health Information and Analysis recently reported that Massachusetts hospitals had a median negative margin of 0.9 percent for the quarter ending June 30.
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Sep 24, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis
THE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION took a back seat last week to Attorney General Andrea Campbell on issues related to Steward Health Care, but to its credit the agency kept its eyes on the bigger issue facing Massachusetts health care policy makers — the longstanding market dysfunction stemming from inequities in health care resources.
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Aug 17, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | John E. McDonough |Paul A. Hattis
EARLIER THIS YEAR, when Steward Health’s financial collapse became immediate, we suggested the for-profit chain’s Massachusetts hospitals should be taken over by regional non-profits. The result would redistribute acute hospital resources to strengthen the state’s regional medical systems rather than weakening them further. While the idea seemed a long shot at the time, it turns out that’s exactly the outcome announced Friday by Gov. Maura Healey.
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Jul 28, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis
IT’S CRUNCH TIME for health care in Massachusetts. Over the next week, the Legislature will decide whether to approve a new health care law and a federal bankruptcy court in Texas is likely to approve final sales of Steward Health Care hospitals in Massachusetts and announce the latest bidder for the hospital system’s physician group. Here are my hopes for the week ahead.
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May 11, 2024 | 
newsbreak.com | Paul A. Hattis
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments.
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May 11, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis
A HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL headed for a debate and vote in the House next week has some very good elements, but it also has some worrisome provisions, in particular the well-intended but flawed effort to raise commercial prices paid to the lowest-paid hospitals.
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Apr 23, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis
FEDERAL AND STATE POLITICIANS have raised a lot of concerns about Steward Health Care’s plan to sell its physician group to Optum, but no one has asked the physicians how they feel about the deal. To that end, I contacted Dr. David Weinstock, who leads a primary care practice in Auburn called Grove Medical Associates. The practice was formed in 1988 and he joined in 2003, right after completing his internal medicine training at Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester.
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Apr 3, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis
THE HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION’S review of Steward Healthcare’s proposed sale of its national physician group to Optum should be differently focused from prior reviews, such as when Mass General Brigham sought to buy South Shore and Hallmark Hospitals or the merger of Beth Israel and Lahey Health. It’s not that Optum’s market share for physician services, its likely pricing, or resultant total medical expenditures should be avoided.
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Feb 20, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | John E. McDonough |Paul A. Hattis
WHAT IS AT STAKE right now in the unfolding crisis at Steward Health Care, with nine hospitals plus 16,000 physicians, nurses, and other health care workers? Bankruptcy? Eminent domain? Receivership? Fire sale? It’s all on the table right now, and informed sources tell us that the for-profit system is failing fast. Worry about that may have prompted Gov.
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Jan 23, 2024 | 
commonwealthbeacon.org | Paul A. Hattis |John E. McDonough
STEWARD HEALTHCARE appears to be in serious financial trouble. In some ways, it’s surprising the for-profit healthcare system — with 33 hospitals, including eight in Massachusetts, plus a physicians network — has survived as long as it has. In August 2022, the system’s dire financials showed a negative net worth of $1.5 billion. That figure is conservative by not reflecting hundreds of millions of dollars that Steward must pay each year under lease agreements for all its hospitals.
