Steward's doctor deal questioned

Nervous about the rapid growth of for-profit hospital chain Steward Health Care System, a group representing the state's community hospitals has asked Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to investigate Steward's recent contract with 150 doctors formerly affiliated with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's physician group. In a Nov. 23 letter, obtained by the Globe, Donald J. Thieme, executive director of the Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals, told Coakley the group's board believes Steward's alliance with the Whittier Independent Practice Association "violates the assurance, provided by Steward to us as well as members of your staff, that such apparent predatory actions against community hospitals would not take place.''