Steward's leases make hospitals 'less attractive' to buyers, Mass. health secretary says

The Healey administration's top health care official said the property and leasing of Steward Health Care hospitals is complicating efforts to find a buyer.

Appearing before senators for a wide-ranging discussion about health care access, affordability and staffing in southeastern Massachusetts, Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh offered details on her team's work to navigate the financial crisis at the for-profit, private equity-backed system and spillover affecting other providers.

Walsh described the financing structure at Steward — which sold its physical properties years ago and now leases back the hospitals — as "unlike anything I've seen" in her career, and added that it has "made their hospitals less attractive to potential acquirers" amid talk of sales.

The former president and CEO of Boston Medical Center Health System, Walsh has also held senior management positions at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research.

"This is a very complicated transaction," she said of Steward's uncertain future. "... We have a lot of really smart people looking at the best way to carry our responsibility, which is taking care of patients, making sure people can support their families and making sure that we don't miss this opportunity to reform the health care system in eastern Mass. We're thinking of every creative way we can possibly do that."