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Southcoast Health has a “strong interest” in acquiring St. Anne’s Hospital from the struggling Steward Health Care chain.

“The best option for St. Anne’s Hospital, its patients, its employees, and our community, is for St. Anne’s to join the Southcoast Health family,” Southcoast Health President and CEO David McCready wrote in a letter to the community on Friday.

St. Anne’s in Fall River is one of nine hospitals that Steward owns in Massachusetts. The company is in severe financial distress — last month, Gov. Maura Healey told Steward to sell its Massachusetts hospitals because the company refused to file required financial disclosures as it failed to pay tens of millions of dollars in bills and rent.

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Southcoast Health is a nonprofit health system that already owns St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, Charlton in Fall River and Tobey in Wareham. The system includes a physician network of more than 675 providers across southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Hawthorn Medical Associates in Dartmouth is affiliated with Steward, though it has not shared information on the specifics of its affiliation agreement.

A Southcoast Health spokesperson said the healthcare system is “actively engaged in discussions regarding our region’s evolving healthcare landscape,” but didn’t go into detail about Steward’s level of involvement. Steward did not respond to a request for comment. 

In his letter, McCready warned that the closure of St. Anne’s could be “truly devastating” for patients and employees. He argued that an acquisition by Southcoast Health is the best option for St. Anne’s because it’s better connected to the community than larger chains. It can also provide specialty treatment locally, rather than sending patients to Boston or elsewhere, McCready wrote.

Next, Southcoast Health plans to conduct a due diligence process managed by Steward representatives to see if the transfer is viable for both hospital systems. It’s too soon to know how long that will take, a Southcoast Health spokesperson said.

“We know that this situation is time-sensitive, so we want to move forward as quickly and responsibly as possible,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org

7 replies on “St. Luke’s group wants to buy St. Anne’s from Steward”

  1. This action makes the most sense and is consistent with how the initial SouthCoast Health System was constructed through consolidation of three local hospitals. The other likely outcomes would be acquisition by a national for profit chain or regional mega provider.

  2. If it’s the only option it’s better than St. Anne’s shutting down but a Boston-based system or perhaps UMass Memorial Health would bring a lot more to the table along with the ability to offer a wider array of services through a comprehensive network of physicians and facilities, including cutting edge teaching hospitals. This is far too populous of a region for a healthcare monopoly. Although Steward is obviously in crisis Southcoast doesn’t seem to have an especially favorable reputation for providing consistently high quality care either.

  3. I see that you tried to get a comment from Hawthorn Medical. What about Prima Care? It’s unclear to me how Steward’s situation would affect doctors and medical facilities affiliated with it. Perhaps no one knows yet. Can these affiliates just split off and go back to the way they were before they linked up with Steward?

  4. I have some fairly serious surgery scheduled at St. Anne’s in April. I am wondering about postponing during this tumultuous time. Has there been any discussion about care disruption or risks associated with this situation?

  5. I’m concerned about how Southcoast would deal with having 2 hospitals in Fall River. Would it mean the consolidation and/or loss of some services? What would happen to the Hudner Oncology Center? How would this acquisition affect Prima Care physicians who currently refer patients to St. Anne’s? Lots of questions and little faith that the end result would ultimately be good for the community.

  6. I still dont understand why Fall River (Pop. 94,000) has 2 hospitals within that city and New Bedford, (Pop, 102,000) has only 1 hospital? Can anyone explain this to me? And both hospitals provide service to the surrounding areas and suburbs. So, Greater Fall River rounds out to about 130,000 and has 2 hospitals for this. Greater New Bedford rounds out to over 160,000 and has 1 hospital. Then people wonder why that hospital sucks and everyone complains about it. Time for another hospital for New Bedford. Lets get an article on that!

  7. What will happen to Prima Care and its doctors? My doctor is with Prima Care.

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