Assessing the fallout of MA hospital closures after Steward bankruptcy
In the wake of two hospital closures in Massachusetts—facilities previously run by the now-bankrupt Steward Health Care—communities are facing strains on their emergency medical services, less access to care, and broken trust. And, for many patients, there could be serious health consequences, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Jose Figueroa.
Figueroa, associate professor of health policy and management, was among the experts quoted in an Oct. 23 CommonWealth Beacon article outlining the fallout from the closing of Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.
Before declaring bankruptcy in May 2024, Steward had been one of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains. It operated eight hospitals in Massachusetts. The state helped five of the hospitals transition to new operators, but not Nashoba Valley and Carney. (The eighth hospital run by Steward, Norwood Hospital, flooded in 2020 and has been closed since then.)
Since the hospital closures, patients have been experiencing longer ambulance response times and long ambulance rides, crowded emergency departments and overworked ER staff at nearby hospitals, and struggles to find new providers.
Figueroa noted that these aren’t just inconveniences. Strains like this tend to “worsen your underlying chronic diseases if you delay access to care, whether the delay is because you have to switch to a new doctor or travel longer,” he said. “It impairs your ability to ensure you’re on the right medications. It impairs your ability to get testing that might dictate whether your treatment regimen should be changed.”
He added that having to switch or delay care can be tougher on older adults, who may be dealing with chronic conditions, physical limitations, or cognitive impairments, and may struggle to replace the longstanding, trusting relationships they had with their former providers. Furthermore, older adults—more than half of whom are covered by restrictive Medicare Advantage plans—commonly face additional obstacles in finding providers within network, Figueroa noted.
Read the CommonWealth Beacon article: When communities lose trust: One year after Steward Health’s bankruptcy and the death of two hospitals
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