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Gov. Healey takes control of St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center to prevent closure
The move comes after the hospital's former asset management firm refused to accept the state's agreement.
Gov. Maura Healey has seized St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton through eminent domain in a last-ditch effort to keep the hospital open.
The action, announced by Healey’s office on Friday, will allow the state to take control of the property and transition the hospital’s operations to Boston Medical Center.
Previously bankrupted Steward Health Care agreed to transfer St. Elizabeth’s operations to Boston Medical Center.
However, according to The Boston Globe, the asset management firm Apollo, which owns the property on all of Steward’s hospitals in the state, refused to accept the bid for the real estate. Apollo said the state’s offer of $4.5 million low-balled the value of the property under the hospital.
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Property records show that the assessed value is more than $200 million, with the land being about $51 million.
“While Apollo continues to put its greed ahead of the health and wellbeing of the people of Massachusetts, we are taking action to make sure St. Elizabeth’s remains open,” Healey said in a statement. “By transferring operations to Boston Medical Center, we will protect access to care for tens of thousands of patients and save thousands of jobs.”
As part of the legal process to take the hospital, Healey declared that closing St. Elizabeth’s would create a public health emergency due to the large volume of patients currently served by the hospital and disrupt the delivery of medical services in the region.
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Healy’s administration said Boston’s inpatient capacity remains at record highs. If the hospital were to close, more than 60 patients at St. Elizabeth’s would not have immediate access to health care.
Healey’s administration previously announced new operators for five of Steward’s seven hospitals in Massachusetts.
Lawrence General Hospital will become the new operator of both Holy Family campuses in Haverhill and Methuen. Lifespan will assume Morton and Saint Anne’s operations, and Boston Medical Center will take over Good Samaritan.
The transfers of ownership will go into effect Oct. 1.
The action comes days after the U.S. Senate approved a resolution to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in criminal contempt for failing to testify before Congress for his financial mismanagement of the company, which has led to hospital closures and sales nationwide, including in Massachusetts.
In addition, the Healey administration announced the formation of working groups focusing on stabilizing and revitalizing health care in communities impacted by Steward Health Care’s closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester.
“Our administration is committed to ensuring smooth transitions at the five Steward hospitals that we were able to save and supporting the communities impacted by Steward’s closure of Nashoba Valley Medical Center and Carney Hospital,” Healey said in a statement.
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