The Steward era in Massachusetts health care officially ended on Tuesday, but its wreckage will be with us for years. Six former Steward hospitals were transferred to new owners, and I assume they can only be an improvement. New owners have stepped up to claim the remnants of the Steward system. Providence-based Lifestyle Health System took over two hospitals, St. Anne's in Providence and Morton Hospital in Taunton. Boston Medical Center will now run St. Elizabeth's in Brighton and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton. Lawrence General Hospital, meanwhile, has acquired Holy Family Hospital, which operates in Methuen and Haverhill. Let's not forget that these acquisitions were the result of perhaps the greatest healthcare scandal in Massachusetts history.
