Steward Health Care Sales Response from Governor Healey’s Physician Network – NBC Boston

Governor Maura Healey has criticized Steward Health Care executives for “truly despicable” behavior and said Tuesday she wants Massachusetts regulators and the federal government to conduct a thorough review of a proposal that would sell Steward’s physician network to for-profit insurer Optum .

Healey faced questions during an interview on WBUR’s “Radio Boston” about whether she supports the proposed sale and what could happen if it doesn’t go through.

“What needs to happen is that the relevant regulatory agencies need to be allowed to do their work. That’s the Health Policy Commission here in Massachusetts and the U.S. Department of Justice, who are currently reviewing the matter,” Healey responded. “I have confidence in those processes and that they can deliver the look they need to do, provided Steward provides documents.”

Steward, the hedge fund-backed organization whose financial crisis has thrust it into the spotlight, has been battling state officials for years over the access to financial data that Massachusetts requires from hospitals. Healey on Tuesday referred to her work as attorney general in the lawsuit against Steward to gain access to the relevant information, and she called on the system to “come clean and provide the documents.”

It’s unclear what the next steps are for troubled Steward Health Care. Follow NBC10 Boston on… Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston

After months of public scrutiny over Steward’s shaky financial position, regulators announced last month that they were exploring a possible sale of the Stewardship Health physician network to Optum Care, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group. But HPC leaders warned on April 11 that “key information from the parties is still missing,” and nearly every member of the state’s congressional delegation wrote a letter last week expressing skepticism about whether the deal would actually help the state .

The Healey government is organizing private meetings with other healthcare providers about the impact of the Steward unrest. She targeted the profitable organization and CEO Ralph de la Torre, whom she described as “the one with a few yachts.”

“Steward has been truly despicable in the way they have behaved here – not the doctors, not the nurses, not the people who work at and even manage the Steward facilities, but the Steward leadership in Dallas, Texas, which what they have done in terms of stripping these facilities of all assets and resources that are so necessary and important to providing care to the community,” she said.