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State to seize St. Elizabeth's by eminent domain to keep it open, Healey says
By adamg on Fri, 08/16/2024 - 12:03pm
Gov. Healey said today she has ordered St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton seized so that the state can keep it open while it transitions to a less rapacious owner - the non-profit Boston Medical Center - rather than risking the collapse of any deal by its current for-profit owners to squeeze the last bits of cash they can as they go bankrupt.
When it comes to finalizing a deal for Saint Elizabeth’s, MPT, Macquarie and Apollo have repeatedly chosen to put their own interests above the health and wellbeing of the people of Massachusetts. Enough is enough. Our administration is going to seize control of Saint Elizabeth’s through eminent domain so that we can facilitate a transition to a new owner and keep this hospital open."
The plan does not include Carney Hospital in Dorchester, with the same owners.
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Comments
so
So why not Carney too? Seems like this needs to be done there to remove "Private Equity" from the equation.
And why not Nashoba Valley?
It's much further away from any other hospitals than either Carney or St. Elizabeth's.
Yeah
I feel sorry for folks around Nashoba Valley Hospital. It really is the only hospital in that community and it would be such a loss to have it close.
location, location or money talks
St. Elizabeth's is in the center of a much more affluent area than Carney.
Money buys premium health insurance and political influence.
Massachusetts Dems just as susceptible. They have no competition.
Only possible countermeasure would be serious protests from the Carney catchment area.
Maybe BMC doesn't want it
The article is unclear but if the plan is for BMC to take over operation, Healey might have been reluctant to have the state take a hospital where there's no group ready to take over management.
yup, as I noted earlier
BMC was sold off and privatized by Menino.
So it's still location, census tract income and money.
The "demand" for health care is the same, but the political demand and the demand price are not the same
Wait, what?
Steward apparently has a buyer for St. E's that intends to keep it open as a functioning hospital. The State can find the money to buy St. E's -- which would stay open regardless -- but cannot find the money or political will to buy Carney or Nashoba Valley and keep those hospitals open?
All of this in spite of the copious handwringing about how essential both Carney & Nashoba Valley are? The State can find the wherewithal to save a hospital that wasn't going to be closed in 2 weeks, but they can't save the hospitals which will?
Elites take care of elites!
St. E is a Harvahd teaching hospital.
Carney takes care of us peons.
Says about all you need to know about Healey.
Brockton is elite?
What state agency is ready and able to take over Carney on short notice?
I blame Healey (and Baker) for letting the situation get so bad. I don't fault her for being unable to find a private non-profit who wanted Carney. Until this was announced, it was looking like all the hospitals in the Steward system would close.
Boston has other hospitals
There are less convenient alternatives to Carney, but alternatives nonetheless. Same for St. Elizabeth's. Some of those "in community" functions could be served by a medical office facility with a walk in.
The area where Nashoba is is very much an environmental justice area and a also an area with significantly lower life expectancy than the rest of the state, making it a health equity area.
But it is one thing for the state to own a hospital, another for it to run a hospital.
Why Not the Carney?
Disclaimer: Life long resident of South Boston, white and currently a patient and being followed at the Carney and have been since being a little kid.
So BMCH takes over Good Sammy down in Brockton but the Carney’s left with its ass swinging in the breeze.
The Minorities of Dorchester and Mattapan are being screwed out of excellent and easily accessible, available medical care when the Carney shuts down.
Someone wants that site for other usages.
My guess is that . . . .
Maura wants it as an alternative for Mass&Cass, and Shattuck housing.
Just what Boston's largest neighborhood needs,
more permanent supportive housing.
Where is Wu?
Excellent? the Carney?
Excellent? the Carney?
When did Carney move to such an esteemed ranking in the eyes of "the Minorities"?
For a long time, its rankings would have been "competent", "better than bleeding to death", and "not especially warmly welcoming to people of color".
I live in Dorchester
The Carney has been a mess for years.
I addressed this change to POC/Blac hospital in an earlier post.
I'll put it here as a quote:
How does that work?
The State is going to run a private Hospital?
The state is not buying hospitals
The situation is fairly complicated, but from reading the Globe article I think there are a few misunderstandings here. Steward, which is bankrupt, owns eight hospitals in Massachusetts, and has been trying to find new owners for them. The Healey administration has been brokering arrangements. Steward, with that assistance, has found new owners for six of the eight, but has not been able to find qualified buyers for Ayer or Carney. The case of one of the six, St. Elizabeth's, is complicated by Steward's sale of the land and buildings in 2016 to a pair of companies that specialize in such things, and earlier this month these companies turned over the properties to their mortgage lender. According to the Healey administration, this trio of companies has put the screws on, and it is from them that she intends to seize the property by eminent domain. It is the real estate and buildings that are being seized (if this goes through), not the business, which Steward still owns, and will be turning over to BMC.
The Globe article doesn't mention the real estate situations of the other seven hospitals. Unless they are similar, there is no evidence that the Healey administration is showing any preference for St. Elizabeth's over Carney or Ayer. In any case the seizing is intended to facilitate the takeover by BMC; it is not a takeover of the hospital itself by the state. BMC was willing to take over St. Elizabeth's, but not Carney or Ayer. Perhaps it considered the possibility that if it took over so many of the hospitals in Steward's Massachusetts network it might end up sharing Steward's fate.