Steward Needs More Time to Evaluate Bids for Local Hospitals

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Steward Health Care Services LLC has received bids for its three hospitals in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, but it needs more time to evaluate them, as well as bids it has received for its hospitals in Arkansas and Louisiana.

Bids for Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland and Sharon Regional Medical Center in Sharon, Pa., were due June 25, as were bids for the Arkansas and Louisiana hospitals operated by the bankrupt company.

An auction for these hospitals was scheduled to take place Thursday. Now that hearing has been adjourned “to a date to be determined while Steward continues to evaluate the bids received.”

Steward notified U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston late Wednesday of its need for more time. The court document provides no information about who has bid on the hospitals clustered by the company in the so-called first round of hospitals.

The notice to the court does state a July 11 hearing to consider approval of the sales remains on the docket.

But Steward also notes that when U.S. Judge Christopher Lopez approved bidding procedures June 3 for its hospitals in 31 states, physician network and other assets, the company was given the authority to adjust and advance deadlines as necessary to maximize value for creditors.

Steward filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy May 6, citing $900 million in debt.

On June 18, Steward extended the bid deadline to July 15 for the remaining “first round” hospitals in Arizona and Massachusetts, and St. Joseph Medical Center in Texas.

The bid deadline for its second round of hospitals – all of them in Florida – is July 26. Steward has said it will consider bids to buy each of these operations individually or collectively. But it may also create a reorganization plan that would preserve the company’s ownership and future management in the Florida hospitals.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.