From nearly the moment of Steward's founding in 2010, Massachusetts officials failed to discipline the Boston-born hospital chain for regulatory violations, check its aggressive expansion plans and relentless cost-cutting, or respond forcefully to dire warnings as it spiraled toward financial collapse, the Spotlight Team has found. Critical reports were softened, alarming financials went unheeded, and broken promises by Steward were unpunished. These failures spanned multiple administrations and contributed to a crisis that has harmed communities and cost lives.
In the days after Thompson was gunned down, UnitedHealthcare, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, UPMC and other major market players have retrenched online, fearing copycat attacks.
The possibility that Summa Health’s sale to a firm backed by venture capital would harm doctors’ ability to have their student loans forgiven is the subject of a lawsuit filed last week by a doctor who said she was “compelled” to seek new employment to safeguard her eligibility for a federal loan forgiveness program that clears some student debts after a decade of payments.