Ralph de la Torre says he's created the ultimate business model for the age of Obamacare: a national chain of no-frills hospitals. He unveiled his plan in January 2011 at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, vowing that Steward would compete aggressively on price with the large university-affiliated teaching hospitals that dominate most metropolitan areas. "In a world of Neiman Marcuses, we're OK with being Filene's," he said. De la Torre said that Steward would deliver low-cost, state-of-the-art care through the use of advanced electronic medical records systems, new preventive medicine approaches, and the standardizing of everything throughout the chain, from billing to emergency room procedures.