METHUEN — Strolling into the cardiac unit at Holy Family Hospital, the top executive of Holy Family's new owner, Lawrence General Hospital, stood erect and listened intently as nurses in scrubs ran through their wish lists: more staff, more supplies, fresh paint — "a little lipstick," in the words of one nurse — to brighten up the floor. Dr. Abha Agrawal assured the overburdened staff that she'd begun hiring and restocking supply cabinets in the post-Steward Health Care era. She said she'd directed her maintenance staff to replace damaged shades in the windows of rooms so patients can sleep, a complaint she'd heard on a previous visit to her expanded domain. She also had a question for the nurses, and a lesson to impart. She asked them who their boss was — and promptly answered her own question. "The patient is the boss," she said. "I say that everywhere I go."
Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon, a specialist in the chest including the heart, lung and esophagus. He has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University and a doctorate in medicine and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine and Wharton School. He has worked at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center — now the Columbia University Irving Medical Center. There, he was appointed director of the Cardiovascular Institute and participated in the first completely endoscopic, robotic open-heart operation and first robotic coronary artery bypass operation in the United States. He also co-founded and directed a Complementary Care Center there with alternative therapies such as energy healing, hypnosis and massage, according to reporting from the second half of the 1990s. He rose through the ranks at Columbia University, where he became a vice-chair and professor of surgery. The university has removed almost all content about Oz from its website since 2022.
Ascension Wisconsin announced plans to close a small hospital in Waukesha and consolidate and close birthing services, mental health units and cardiac catheterization labs across southeast Wisconsin. The announcement comes as other hospital systems across the state have made similar cutbacks and closures. The Saint Louis-based hospital system will close its "micro-hospital," which opened in Waukesha at the start of 2021. Ascension Wisconsin announced plans to centralize all of its inpatient behavioral healthcare services for the southeast portion of the state at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, meaning it will eventually close its inpatient behavioral health units at All Saints Hospital in Racine and at Columbia St. Mary's Hospital-Ozaukee.
CVS Health said on Monday it would add four new members to its board in an agreement with Glenview Capital Management, including the hedge fund's CEO Larry Robbins. Shares of the healthcare conglomerate rose nearly 3% in premarket trading. Longtime investor Glenview Capital Management bought 2.8 million CVS shares during the third quarter, increasing its stake by 31%. "In our discussions with the leadership at Glenview, we agreed that we can deliver greater value from our integrated businesses to all of our stakeholders, including our customers, consumers, colleagues and shareholders," said CVS chairman Roger Farah. Three other executives will join Robbins on the CVS board, bringing the total members to 16.
In a sign that a criminal probe into Steward Health Care has picked up steam, a prominent member of the company's board of directors, former U.S. House speaker John Boehner, appeared at the federal courthouse in Boston Thursday where a grand jury is investigating allegations of fraud, bribery, and corruption within the national health care chain. Boehner ignored several questions from the Globe Spotlight Team at the John Joseph Moakley Federal Courthouse. Boehner, who recently received a federal subpoena, was inside the courthouse for two hours. As a member of Steward's board, Boehner was privy to key financial details about the company as its financial situation cratered and patients' lives were imperiled by staff and medical equipment shortages.
Ahead of a Beacon Hill hearing, a pair of Massachusetts lawmakers have called on a state oversight panel to ask some tough questions of the company that's taken over the physicians' network formerly owned by bankrupt Steward Health Care. Benson Sloan, the CEO of the private-equity-owned Rural Healthcare Group, is slated to testify before the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission. In a three-page letter obtained exclusively by MassLive, Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the regulatory panel to press Sloan, who is expected to testify under oath, to "uphold the [company's] public commitments" to continue participating in MassHealth, and to preserve continuity of care for former Steward patients.