An impoverished city in the Ohio Shenango Valley, facing the closure of two Steward Health Care hospitals, is fighting back, asking a bankruptcy court judge for the chance to acquire the hospitals and save 800 jobs.
Steward Health Care, the owner of St. Luke's Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix, is furloughing most employees, two weeks after Arizona officials suspended operations because the facility had been without air conditioning since Aug. 8.
According to people with knowledge of the negotiations for five Steward hospitals in Massachusetts, the state may have to spend as much as $700 million over the next three years to stabilize the facilities.
Providers will shift their attention to how states opt to police non-compete agreements now that a federal court has blocked an FTC ban on the widely used contracts.
The agreement includes Rockledge Regional Medical Center and Melbourne Regional Medical Center, both in Brevard County, and Sebastian River Medical Center in Indian River County.