Residency Program at Trumbull Hospital Threatened by Steward Debt

WARREN, Ohio – Steward Health Care System has collected nearly $208,000 in federal and state funding earmarked for the residency and fellowship programs underway at Trumbull Regional Medical Center. But it has not paid the Western Reserve Health Education Inc., the nonprofit company that provides graduate medical education at Trumbull Regional, since May 2023.

Nor has Steward reimbursed Western Reserve Health Education for expenses incurred by its vendors and third parties. And it has failed to pay faculty – “some dating back to 2023,” court papers say – and some who are threatening to quit teaching.

So states a motion filed Wednesday by the company, which is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston to compel Steward to assume or reject the contract it first signed with the health system in 2018.

“Without relief WRHE is in jeopardy of losing its accreditation, its ability to fill vacant resident positions, its current faculty, and educational resources and training sites,” the motion states. “In order to mitigate its damages, it is necessary that [Steward] assume the funding agreement and cure any default, or reject same, on an expedited basis …”

A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 30.

Western Reserve Health Education sponsors three residency programs and one fellowship program at Trumbull Regional, court papers say.

Among unpaid “critical expenses,” the motion states, is software used to track Medicare costs, a program that matches medical school graduate applicants into residency programs and fees owed Northeast Ohio Medical University for mandatory courses and clinical standard assessments tests to residents.

In addition, AVI Food Systems of Warren has not been paid for the monthly stipend residents receive at the hospital’s cafeteria, and the hospital stopped paying residents’ workers compensation insurance.   

Without payment, the training programs are in danger of “collapse … [and] WHRE is at risk of losing its own accreditation as a residency training program.”

The court filing coincided with an unrelated news release distributed Wednesday by Sharon Regional Medical Center, which announced the hospital’s school of nursing will not start a new class in January.

“Our current focus is completing the education of the current class of nursing students set to graduate in May 2025. We are encouraging nursing students looking to start training to explore other options and to work directly with Penn State Shenango, Thiel College, and Meadville Medical Center to do so,” the hospital said.

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