The financial crisis facing the company that operates thirty-three hospitals in eight states, including three here in the Valley has drawn the attention of a U.S. Senate subcommittee.

Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Primary Health and Retirement Security Subcommittee of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, announced on Friday that he will chair a HELP subcommittee hearing in Boston on April 3 to investigate the role of Steward Health Care and other for-profit companies in the United States health care system.

 Markey made the announcement after touring the Steward-owned Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Senator Markey claims that Steward, which operates nine healthcare facilities across Massachusetts, is placing healthcare access in communities at risk with potential closures and worker layoffs.

 “For-profit companies like Steward shamelessly profit off the backs of health care providers while making it harder for people to get the care they need. For-profit companies, including private equity, put our hospitals on life support to turn a profit—all while forcing communities to clean up the mess they leave behind. In health care, cutting corners costs lives, and that is unacceptable, no matter how big the profit,” said Sen. Markey in a media release.

Medical Properties Trust, the nation’s largest hospital landlord, blamed most of its fourth-quarter financial losses on Steward Health Care, whose holdings include Trumbull Regional Hospital in Warren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland, and Sharon Regional Medical Center in Sharon.

In January, Medical Properties Trust revealed that Steward owed it $50 million in unpaid rent for properties around the country.

Since then, Medical Properties stated that it hopes to receive an increase in rent payments from Steward, which recently announced it will be getting a financial boost from  $150 million in loans.

Two lawsuits pending in Trumbull County allege that Steward Health has failed to pay for nearly $130,000 worth of goods and services at Trumbull Regional Hospital.

In one suit, Niles-based Penn Care Inc. is seeking $67,940.18 for the cost of goods and services they say they've provided but not been paid for since October of 2021.

Penn Care provides EMS supplies, ambulance sales, EKG monitors, and disaster response equipment.

Another lawsuit filed by Niles-based electrical contractor, Becdel Controls, Inc. accuses Steward Health and MPT of Warren Steward, LLC of failing to pay for $61,674.31 in electrical work done at Trumbull Regional Hospital.

Recently, a $3,400 plus interest judgment against Steward issued in August by Girard Municipal Court to contractor Boak & Sons, was transferred to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Trumbull County Commissioner Denny Malloy told 21 News last week that Steward Health is exploring the possibility of a buyout by another hospital system.