Dallas-based Steward Health Care’s CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre is being called to Capitol Hill by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The group of 20-plus Senators voted July 25 to launch an investigation into how the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May has impacted customers.
The company previously said it would sell all 31 of its hospitals and physician group starting in Texas and Arizona to help offload $9 billion in debt. Since then, entities like the Massachusetts Nurses Association have called on state and federal governments to halt the sales over concerns that patient care would diminish.
Senators Bernie Sanders and Edward Markey have criticized the company and de la Torre recently. After the company filed for bankruptcy, Steward confirmed that de la Torre had also acquired a 190-foot yacht, estimated to be valued at $40 million.
“It is time for Dr. de la Torre to get off this yacht and explain his financial chicanery,” Sanders said.
Steward Health Care did not immediately respond to an interview request from The Dallas Morning News. But the company told CBS News it will work with the Senate through de la Torre’s subpoena.
“Steward Health Care will address the subpoena with the appropriate HELP Committee staff. We understand the desire for increased transparency around our journey and path forward,” the company said in a statement, according to CBS News.
The Steward CEO has been accused of profiting off community hospitals at the expense of its patients and is facing allegations of fraud and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston.
“This is a story of private equity with no constraints taking over a massive hospital system and looting it for its wealth,” Markey said. “All I can say to Ralph de la Torre is you cannot treat communities as expendable. You are accountable, your day of reckoning is arriving.”
When the company filed for bankruptcy in May, de la Torre said it was the best path forward for everyone.
“Steward Health Care has done everything in its power to operate successfully in a highly challenging health care environment,” he said then. “Filing for Chapter 11 restructuring is in the best interests of our patients, physicians, employees, and communities at this time.”
