Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre and his top deputy jetted last summer to Jamaica for an escape from the scorching heat in Dallas. Among the worries they left behind: the unpaid bills that were piling up at headquarters. They stepped off the company's private plane and onto de la Torre's personal yacht, bound for a weeklong cruise through the Caribbean. They followed that trip with a few days back in the office. And then de la Torre headed to the Virgin Islands on another break. And then another — and another. Jamaica, Antigua, St. Kitts, Bermuda, Turks and Caicos. In all, the CEO spent 34 days in the tropics — plus a long weekend in the French Riviera — last summer as his healthcare company teetered on the brink of bankruptcy, according to a new Globe Spotlight Team analysis of public flight records, yacht records, internal company documents, and interviews with people close to the matter. Nearly half of the 582 flights flown in 2022 and 2023 were to or from destinations more than 100 miles away from any official Steward location, such as hospitals or corporate offices. Passengers included de la Torre's fishing friends, a luxury yacht salesman, and high-profile horse trainers. De la Torre flew to Massachusetts — the birthplace of his company and then home of eight of its hospitals — just seven times in two years, records show. Each trip lasted a day or less. In many, if not all, instances, the private jet excursions were paid for by Steward, records show, the funds pulled directly from the coffers of one of the nation's largest — and most troubled — for-profit, private hospital chains.
WASHINGTON - A U.S. Senate committee voted unanimously on Thursday to take steps to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in civil and criminal contempt for defying a Congressional subpoena. The committee is investigating the bankrupt company that has struggled to sell more than three dozen hospitals that it owns in eight states. Last month, Steward closed two Massachusetts hospitals after it said it could not find qualified bidders for the facilities. The is the first time the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has ever recommended contempt action against a witness. The resolutions to hold de la Torre in contempt passed 20-0 and will now go before the full Senate for consideration. If held in contempt, de la Torre could face fines or jail time for failing to testify. De la Torre did not show up to testify to a Sept. 12 hearing where he was subpoenaed to testify. Attorneys for de la Torre sent a letter to the Senate committee Wednesday, saying that he was invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not testify. He has denied any wrongdoing and a spokesperson said the hearings should be postponed until Steward is finished with bankruptcy proceedings. A federal grand jury in Boston is looking at the pay, spending and travel of de la Torre and other top company executives.
The process of building Steward Health Care into the country's largest for-profit hospital chain took chief executive Ralph de la Torre almost a decade. Now, with the chain in bankruptcy and some hospitals already closed, the process of holding de la Torre accountable is just getting started. On Thursday morning, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee is scheduled to vote on civil and criminal referrals for contempt of Congress over de la Torre's refusal to testify at a hearing last week despite being subpoenaed. If the full Senate goes along and the US attorney presses charges, de la Torre could find himself in prison. The votes come a day after a lawyer for de la Torre blasted congressional efforts to investigate the executive's role in the crisis, arguing that de la Torre's refusal to testify is protected by the Fifth Amendment and was not permitted because of the company's ongoing bankruptcy reorganization.
Mission Hospital CEO Chad Patrick is leaving the company and will be replaced by President of HCA Healthcare's North Carolina Division Greg Lowe, the company announced Monday. The move, first reported by the Asheville Watchdog, comes as HCA faces legal action, a potential nurses strike and continued staffing issues. State Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein filed suit against the health care giant in late 2023, alleging non-compliance with the terms of the sale of Mission to HCA. In June, HCA took remedial action to remove the hospital from "immediate jeopardy" status with CMS.
Insight Health Systems began assessing Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Hospital in Warren on Thursday. Insight has fully taken over as temporary manager-operators of the facilities. Assessing the poor conditions left by former operators, Steward Healthcare, could take several weeks.
The newly renovated Williamson Memorial Hospital has now received a license from the West Virginia Office of Health Facility Licensure & Certification, which will allow the facility to operate a 76-bed general hospital. Officials say the new certification will also let Williamson Memorial provide 24-hour in-patient medical and nursing care. Williamson Health & Wellness Center acquired Williamson Memorial after it closed in April 2020.