Steward quits hospital group to advocate on its own

By PBN Staff

BOSTON – Steward Health Care System, operator of 10 Massachusetts hospitals, “abruptly resigned” from the “leading” hospital association in Massachusetts, The Boston Globe reported Thursday.

Steward has been in the news recently in Rhode Island as well, after being granted a two-week extension by Rhode Island regulators to complete its filing to purchase Woonsocket-based Landmark Medical Center.

The company resigned from the Massachusetts Hospital Association in a hand-delivered note, association board members were told in an email obtained by the Globe on Tuesday. Steward pays 11 percent of the association’s dues.

“At this point in the evolution of health care reform, and of Steward itself, we feel we can make a greater contribution as a single coherent voice with a unique constituency: a fully integrated, community-based accountable care organization,” the company said in a statement.

The Boston Globe noted that Steward’s resignation came “just months before state lawmakers are expected to consider legislation that would usher in a second phase of changes in health care - this one focused on controlling medical costs.”