Ahead of its annual R&D Day event, Moderna Inc. says it now doesn’t expect its revenue to equal its expenses until 2028, two years longer than it had previously predicted.
Moderna also announced new “portfolio prioritization and cos…
post
WATCH LIVE: Sheriff to hold news conference on drug conspiracy investigation
Norfolk County Sheriff Patrick McDermott is scheduled to hold a press conference Thursday morning to discuss a drug conspiracy investigation.
The press conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Correctional C…
Steward Health Care collapse the focus of Senate hearing Thursday
The collapse of Steward Health Care‘s hospital system in Massachusetts is expected to be the focus of a Senate hearing Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The hearing, set for 10 a.m., is scheduled to take place even though Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre has said he won’t appear to testify. Senators are expected to hold the executive in contempt if he does defy the subpoena.
Two members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association are expected to testify at the joint hearing hosted by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which is examining the impact of the bankruptcy of Steward and management’s decisions on the delivery of patient care.
The hearing will be livestreamed on the committee’s website.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, one of Steward’s most vocal critics, released a report in advance of Thursday’s hearing spotlighting patient and worker experiences, hospital quality data and information on hospital closures in Massachusetts and around the country that he says highlights the company’s mismanagement.
In the report, Markey wrote, “Using hospitals as a get-rich-quick scheme creates a powder keg for the actual provision of care… Steward Health Care – enabled by Cerberus Capital Management and Medical Properties Trust – has preyed on the hospitals on which communities rely. Its malpractice shows in the stunning cost that communities, workers, and patients are now paying for Steward’s greed. Communities are paying with closures of essential health institutions. Workers are paying with their livelihoods. Patients are paying with their lives.”
Even with hospital sales approved for Steward, state health officials say they are bracing for a rocky path ahead and working to stay engaged with the communities that lost facilities.
Beyond the closure of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration is in the early stages of the eminent domain process to seize St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton and is handling uncertainty surrounding Norwood Hospital, a Steward facility not involved in the bankruptcy proceedings, Department of Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said Wednesday.
“I’m sure that there will be additional bumps in the road, even as we move closer and closer toward the resolution of this very difficult situation,” Goldstein said during a Public Health Council meeting, without offering specific examples. “I have confidence in the incredible team that I’ve had the privilege to work with during the many months we’ve been dealing with these issues. But I know that whatever situation may arise, we have the system, the people, the expertise and the determination to manage them.”
Dr. Gregg Meyer, who has led the state’s incident command for the Steward upheaval, said the ongoing situation “remains VUCA.”
“Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous,” the Mass General Brigham executive said. “It is actually the perfect setting for public health preparedness and emergency preparedness to be put into place to keep things safe.”
The state did not intervene to halt the closure of the Carney in Dorchester or Nashoba Valley in Ayer, which Healey has attributed to the hospitals not receiving qualified bids from new operators. The Healey administration previously said an ambulance would be on-site 24/7 at both Carney and Nashoba for one week after the hospitals shuttered at the end of August to triage and transport patients seeking emergency care.
In Dorchester, that ambulance service has been extended an extra week, to Saturday morning, as patients continue to learn about Carney’s closure, a DPH spokesperson said. Since Aug. 31, 30 patients who tried to receive care at the Carney have been transported to other hospitals. Ambulance service was not extended in Ayer due to “low volume,” the spokesperson said.
Meyer said officials are launching a “number of efforts” in the coming weeks to stay engaged in the Nashoba and Carney areas, plus in the Merrimack Valley, where two Steward hospital facilities are headed for new ownership. Meyer said the programs and policies will aim to help address ripple effects from the Steward bankruptcy.
“Never waste a crisis,” he said. “And in this case, this provides an opportunity — one that we didn’t ask for but one that’s upon us — to actually rethink and reimagine care in the communities that are impacted. And so we are looking forward to creating a better health system coming out of all this and a brighter future for those communities and patients, as well as the providers in those areas to be able to practice medicine the way that we’ve always hoped for and ensure public health despite all the challenges we face.”
Goldstein said health officials are also focused on ensuring care is provided to residents around Norwood Hospital, which closed in 2020 after major flooding. Construction on a new hospital began in late 2021 but was stopped earlier this year.
“Norwood Hospital continues to operate several outpatient facilities, including care for people with cancer and those requiring rehab services,” Goldstein said. “We are working hard to keep those facilities and those programs operational to prevent disruption of care to patients and to support the community.”
State regulators, including at DPH and the Health Policy Commission, still need to vet the sales of the six Steward hospitals approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez. Under ordinary circumstances, that process could take months, though DPH this summer already sped through the essential service closure process after Steward bucked the 120-day state notice requirement.
State House News Service contributed to this report.
COVID, flu vaccines ‘widely available’ in Mass. as seasons pick up
The state’s top public health official urged Bay Staters to take precautions against COVID-19 amid rising cases, as well as from heightened mosquito activity that can lead to serious illnesses.
COVID and flu vaccines are now “widel…
Fight at Revere High School injures teacher amid calls for help combating violence
After Dorchester shootings, Boston city councilor calls for more police patrols
Boston City Council Vice President Brian Worrell is calling for increased police patrols in Dorchester and Mattapan, according to leaked letters obtained by NBC10 Boston, after recent gun violence traumatized people in his district.
Two men we…
