ONA, Steward Vendors File Objections to Hospital Closings
WARREN, Ohio – The Ohio Nurses Association, the union representing the registered nurses at Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital, filed its objection Wednesday afternoon regarding the proposed closure of that hospital by Steward Health Care System as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Additionally, vendors and an insurance company with contracts with Steward filed objections to matters surrounding the scheduled closures of the two Trumbull County hospitals.
The ONA joined the objections filed by Warren City Hospital Inc., Western Reserve Health Education Inc., the city of Warren and Trumbull County on Tuesday. Those entities also objected to the efforts to close Trumbull Regional Medical Center, Hillside and satellite medical facilities. The closure notices by Steward would go into effect on or before Sept. 20.
In its filing, the ONA pointed out the 69-bed Hillside facility is vital for families in Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage and Geauga counties and throughout northeastern Ohio. Hillside provides specialized rehabilitation and recovery for patients following a brain injury, stoke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s complications and other serious conditions.
“It is irreplaceable – if it closes, the people who now and in the future need the services that Hillside provides will be forced to travel to get those services, and the skilled and dedicated workforce that now provides the care will end up scattered,” the ONA says.
The union’s objection requests U.S. Judge Christopher Lopez to allow Hillside to remain open long enough for interested parties to make a viable bid for the hospital.
Among the health care providers filing objections to the pending closures is United Healthcare, which said it is required by Medicare and Medicaid to provide its members with 30-day notice of the closure of in-network facilities. The Aug. 21 closure filings by Steward does not give the insurance company enough time to comply, court papers say. While United Healthcare claims it does not object to the closures, it asked for at least a 40-day notice to make the proper notifications and adjustments.
Other interested parties filing objections include:
Quest Diagnostics, which provides testing services for several Steward hospitals, including Trumbull Regional, said it had entered into an agreement with Steward to purchase certain assets in December 2023. Quest Diagnostics has a lease for the Trumbull Regional-related facility in Austintown, which is one of the satellite offices now slated for closure. Quest is seeking reservations of its rights.
Vital Records Control, which has the contracts with Steward for storing the hospital’s patient care records, filed an objection that argued closing Trumbull and Hillside creates confusion on how patient records will be stored, transferred and destroyed. The records must be held for 365 days to give patients a chance to obtain them, but the bankruptcy does not address how that is to be handled. VRC estimates it has about 345 patient care records for Hillside, more than 3,400 from Trumbull and still 2,636 from Northside Medical Center, which was closed by Steward in 2018.
Dext Capital and Post Road Equipment Finance have each filed notification of having lease agreements with Steward for equipment located in several Steward hospitals, including Trumbull Regional. The companies are concerned those items could be considered abandoned upon the closure of the hospital, which would allow Steward to sell the equipment as an asset to pay debtors without paying them for the loss of their equipment.
Post Road says its leases are for certain surgical equipment, medical imaging equipment, hospital beds, ventilators and medical robotics equipment.
The Warren City Hospital group is leading the effort to save Hillside and Trumbull Regional. With the support of the city of Warren, Trumbull County commissioners and through donations to the United Way of Trumbull County, Warren City Hospital is seeking to raise $30 million to purchase and operate both Trumbull County hospitals and related facilities.
Meanwhile, in Mercer County, Pa., an effort to stop a similar declaration of intent to close Sharon Regional Medical Center continues. The commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Meadville Medical Center, which has offered to operate the hospital if interim financing is raised, have until the end of the day Friday to obtain and prove to the court they have enough funding, somewhere between $1.5 and $4.5 million.
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