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Steward Health Care System

Steward Health Care
Company typePrivate
IndustryHealthcare
PredecessorCaritas Christi Health Care
Founded2010 (2010) in Boston, Massachusetts, US
FounderRalph de la Torre
FateBankrupted
Headquarters1900 Pearl,
Dallas, Texas
,
US
Number of locations
31 hospitals (2024)
Areas served
Key people
  • Ralph de la Torre (CEO)
  • Mark Rich (President)
Services
Revenue~$8 Billion
Owner
Number of employees
>30,000 (2023)
Websitewww.steward.org
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3][4]

Steward Health Care is a large private for-profit health system headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It utilizes an integrated care model to deliver healthcare across its hospitals and primary care locations, as well as through its managed care and health insurance services. As of the start of 2024, Steward operated 33 hospitals and employed 33,000 people in the United States.[5] Steward's international ventures include Steward Colombia, which operates four hospitals, and Steward Middle East, which operates in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.[6] The company is currently engaged in bankruptcy proceedings.[7]

Steward began in 2010 in Massachusetts, when private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management acquired the failing non-profit Caritas Christi Health Care system. This move was led by Caritas CEO Ralph de la Torre, MD, a former cardiac surgeon who became founder and CEO of the new system, a position he still holds.[8] Today, Steward mainly operates in the United States, with locations across the country. Since 2016, Steward has fueled its national expansion with debt-driven mergers and acquisitions, largely financed through sale-leaseback deals with its principal landlord, Medical Properties Trust (MPT), in which Steward purchases hospitals and immediately sells the real estate to MPT in order to recoup costs, pay investors, and fuel further expansion, in turn entering into triple-net lease agreements with MPT to be paid by the hospitals.[9]

Cerberus, having made a profit of about $800 million over 10 years,[10] made its exit in 2020 by giving its shares in Steward to a group of Steward physicians led by de la Torre in exchange for a convertible bond worth $350 million. Today, Steward is owned by said physicians (90%) and MPT (10%).[9] While Steward says that selling and leasing their hospital properties (a practice they call "asset light") allows them to prioritize patient care,[11] experts have described it as a contributing factor to the system's later financial difficulties and resulting patient care and safety concerns.[9][12][13] Following months of reported financial issues and billions in unpaid bills, Steward filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 6, 2024.[7]

The results of Steward's international operation have varied: Steward has opened two hospitals in Colombia[14][15] and performs consulting work in the Middle East with a plan to build a hospital in Saudi Arabia,[6] but the company has faced significant criticism and scrutiny from officials in Malta regarding a former venture there.[16] In May 2024, the Maltese Attorney General's office indicated that it would charge Ralph de la Torre and thirty-three others in relation to accusations of bribery, misappropriation, and money laundering.[17]

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  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Steward_International was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Globe_240506 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  9. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference La_France_2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Steward_Business_Model was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Appelbaum_2020 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Batt_2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Steward_Colombia_230615 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Risaralda_230727 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference Forbes_201125 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference TimesofMalta_240523 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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