Massachusetts launches emergency operations plan for struggling Steward hospitals

Massachusetts has activated an emergency operations plan in response to the ongoing financial crisis at Steward Health Care hospitals statewide.

On Friday, the state Department of Public Health announced it had launched an emergency plan to help patients and medical staff caught in the turbulence of Steward’s current financial woes.

“This week, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health activated its Emergency Operations Plan as part of our ongoing commitment to ensuring patient safety, protecting access to care, and preserving jobs,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh said in a statement. “This next step is part of our ongoing response to Steward Health Care’s financial challenges. »

Part of the plan includes an incident command center that aims to help patients in eastern Massachusetts access health care.

In an interview with The Boston GlobeMassachusetts Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said the center will organize efforts among state, hospital and local leaders to help patients and medical staff.

“People need to know they can get care and workers need to have the confidence to know they can show up every day,” Goldstein said.

Steward, which owns and operates nine Massachusetts medical centers, admitted owing approximately $50 million in unpaid rent and contracts. Its facilities are grappling with severe staffing shortages that threaten patients’ access to timely health care.

In March, Steward announced plans to sell its national physician network to OptumCare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. Last month, Steward also said he was forced to temporarily close a cancer unit at Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton due to staffing shortages.

A coalition of health care workers, residents and community leaders recently held a series of forums and rallies and launched an online petition urging state leaders to help patients affected by problems at Steward facilities .

“The loss of any of these facilities will be a devastating blow to the Commonwealth’s entire health care infrastructure, particularly to some of the most vulnerable and marginalized patients and families,” the coalition wrote in the petition. “Patients will be subjected to dangerous delays in care, will be forced to travel longer distances for care and, for many, will go without care altogether. »