Steward Health Care Acquires Five Tenet Healthcare Hospitals

The physician-owned healthcare system will aim to give patients quality, value-based care in the South Florida hospitals, where they are ready to take on the current COVID-19 surge.

Steward Health Care System, a Dallas-based physician-owned healthcare network, has acquired five South Florida Hospitals from Tenet Healthcare Corporation.

Steward, which currently operates in nine states, added North Shore Medical Center, Coral Gables Hospital, Hialeah Hospital, Palmetto General Hospital, and Florida Medical Center to its ranks on Monday.

In a statement, Ralph de la Torre, MD, CEO of Steward, said that the organization will aim to give patients quality, value-based care in its new South Florida hospitals, especially amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

"Steward Health Care takes a physician’s approach to patient care. Everything we do is about improving our patients’ well-being, which requires not only tailoring care to each patient, but also learning from and engaging with every community we serve," de la Torre said in a statement. "I am humbled by the opportunity to expand our footprint in my beloved home state. We know there are health challenges here and we are eager to work with local leaders to address them together."

Sanjay Shetty, MD, Steward's president of North America, led and established clinical innovations during the pandemic and will oversee all five hospitals.

"Steward understands that combatting the resurgence of the COVID pandemic in South Florida is our most urgent and immediate priority," Shetty said in a statement. "Already, we have begun to redeploy PPE, ventilators, and other vital supplies needed for the care of COVID patients from our other facilities throughout the country to hospitals in this market. As a physician-led hospital system, we are committed to providing all our patients with access to critical supplies and treatments, and we will work hard to build trust and ensure the best possible outcomes by listening to and learning from our partners in South Florida."

Steward currently operates 44 hospitals globally, including 34 hospitals across the country in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah, and has over 5,500 providers and 43,000 healthcare professionals serving 12.3 million patients a year.