The city of Warren is waiting, once again, to see what becomes of the two hospitals that provide more than half of the community’s health care.
The for-profit Steward Health Care’s bankruptcy hearing is wrapping up as the health system closes and sells its portfolio of hospitals, including a potential sale of Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.
Ralph de la Torre, Steward's CEO, stepped into the spotlight as he announced his separation with the system Monday, as well as a lawsuit against a U.S. Senate committee after members voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for skipping out on his subpoena to testify.
Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital were set to close, but an agreement was reached last month with a Flint, Michigan-based for-profit that has kept the hospitals open. Where do things stand now?
Insight Health System has taken the reigns of managing the 346-bed hospital and 69-bed rehab hospital for over two weeks.
In that time, the health system kept the ER and critical services open, but temporarily suspended other medical services while it transitioned operations, transferring some patients to the other hospital in town, Mercy Health St. Joseph Warren Hospital.
Creditors, including Medical Properties Trust (MPT), the hospitals' landlord based out of Birmingham, Alabama, now continue to work out a plan for a sale, as Insight and another group bids for the hospitals.
Who is Insight? And do we know about any other potential buyers?
Insight is a for-profit that operates hospitals in four states, and has a history of taking over distressed hospitals and turning them around.
In 2021, the system acquired Chicago’s 414-bed Mercy Hospital, reestablishing its ER and opening behavioral health, maternal health and neurology services.
If its bid wins, Insight said it would then form nonprofits to operate the two Warren hospitals, while taking a portion of the profits as a management fee.
Recently, another potential buyer that has emerged is a Christian organization called Yates Medical Group, based out of Florida. CEO Benjamin Yates said he completed a portion of his physician training at Trumbull Regional, and has the capital to make a bid for the hospitals. He said if his bid is accepted, he intends to relocate to Ohio to run the hospitals as nonprofits and would convert his medical group into a nonprofit.
Meanwhile, a community nonprofit that was created by a board of local doctors and business leaders to run the hospitals, called Warren City Hospital Inc., has fizzled out, according to the United Way of Trumbull County, after the group couldn’t get Steward or the landlord, MPT, to consider their offer.
How does the community feel about the current situation?
Employees who asked not to speak on the record, given the sensitivity of sale negotiations, said they’re stressed and uneasy about the future of the hospitals, with many still uncertain if they will keep their jobs or who their new employer will be.
Some people said they're waiting to share their thoughts to see how Insight runs the hospitals, and for their unions to work out contracts.
The general quiet among community members stands in stark contrast to the hundreds of people who showed up to a rally to support saving the hospitals, raising $325,000 dollars in the process. That money was supposed to go to the community nonprofit to run the hospital, but is now being held until community leaders determine whether it's appropriate to hand it over to an outside buyer.
Another concern is whether the eventual buyer will strike a deal to buy the property outright from MPT, instead of just leasing from them. Niki Frenchko, Trumbull County Commissioner, said if the new buyer doesn’t assume ownership of all the assets, the community could find itself in another difficult situation like the one with Steward, where the money generated by providing health care goes to for-profit interests out of state, instead of staying in the community.
Frenchko and others have asked what protections are being put in place for the hospitals they've put so much energy into saving. Seeing as neither of the strong contenders for the purchase have track records in the region, residents are quietly wondering if what happened when Steward first came to town will happen again — when the system closed down another area hospital and shuttered high-cost services, including the birthing center at Trumbull Regional.
What’s next for the Warren hospitals?
The bankruptcy court deadline for parties to make a decision on the sale of the Ohio hospitals is Oct. 5, but it is possible, as has been the case through the hearing, that the sale date will be postponed.
