The CEO of one of South Florida's largest healthcare networks has resigned following a negative review from the hospital's board. Scott Wester, who was hired in 2022 under a three-year contract to run Memorial Healthcare System, resigned Wednesday, and the board voted unanimously to terminate his contract a day later. The board was not in agreement with the strategic plan Wester had presented for the future of the healthcare system. David Smith, Memorial's chief administrative office, will take on the role of interim CEO.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) asked what the witnesses would have done with the $800 million dividend Cerberus siphoned out of the hospital in 2016, or the $40 million de la Torre spent on the larger of his two yachts. Ellen MacInnis, a 26-year veteran of St. Elizabeth's hospital in Brighton, suggested she might start by paying off the elevator mechanic. "I work on the 10th floor and there are supposed to be six elevators and one is working, and even that one [only] works most of the time," said MacInnis. Steward administrators devised a bizarre if creative solution: "They gave us these sleds, to drag patients who can't walk in an emergency, or if there's a fire in the building," she said. "I'm 65 years old. Do you think for one minute I can haul a patient down a flight of stairs in a sled? This is lunacy!"
Lawmakers will vote to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress next week after he declined to appear at a hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill where he was subpoenaed to testify. The company, which had owned more than three dozen hospitals across eight states, declared bankruptcy earlier this year and has been struggling to find buyers for its facilities. Last week, de la Torre's attorney wrote to the committee, saying his client would "not participate" in the hearing, asserting the testimony needed to be postponed until after Steward's bankruptcy proceedings were resolved. The committee's chairman, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, refused to postpone the hearing, where lawmakers also heard from health care workers and local officials in communities impacted by Steward's bankruptcy.
City officials are celebrating the start of construction of a large expansion project to a century-old hospital in Detroit. A ground-breaking ceremony took place Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Henry Ford Hospital. The new expansion project, Destination: Grand, will take shape on the same block where Henry Ford Hospital first opened its doors nearly 110 years ago. At $2.2 billion, it's Henry Ford Health's largest investment in Detroit to date. The 1.2 million square foot hospital facility will include a new emergency department, all new operating rooms, interventional radiology, cardiology and vascular labs and a patient tower.
One of the largest healthcare systems in Arizona is taking over four hospitals owned by Steward Health Care, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and has come under fire for the alleged mismanagement of St. Luke's Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix. HonorHealth says that, effective immediately, it has assumed daily operations at the following hospitals across the state: Mountain Vista Medical Center in Mesa; St. Luke's Hospital in Tempe; Steward Mesa Hospital – Emergency Room; Florence Hospital in Florence Multiple outpatient practices are also being taken over by HonorHealth. HonorHealth says the agreement entails leasing the properties through Medical Properties Trust, which is Steward's landlord. After a transitional phase, HonorHealth will assume full operational ownership, which is expected to be completed by October.
Members of a Senate committee looking into the Steward Health Care bankruptcy said they plan to adopt two resolutions next week to hold Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt — one for civil enforcement and another for certification to the United States Attorney for criminal contempt — after he refused to attend a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday despite being issued a subpoena.
If approved, both resolutions will go to the full Senate for a vote.
The first resolution instructs the Senate legal counsel to bring a civil suit requiring de la Torre to testify before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The criminal contempt resolution would refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to criminally prosecute de la Torre for failing to comply with the subpoena.