A federal bankruptcy court has appointed someone whose task is to ensure adequate medical care is provided to patients at Steward Health Care’s hospitals in four states, including three in the Valley.

United States Bankruptcy Court Trustee Kevin Epstein announced on Monday the appointment of Suzanne Koenig of Illinois as Patient Care Ombudsman for Steward’s hospitals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Florida.

Koenig’s job is to monitor the quality of patient care provided to Steward’s patients, including interviewing patients.

Every two months, Koenig will report the quality of care to the court. If Koenig finds that the quality of patient care is declining significantly or being compromised, she is required to notify the court.

Under terms issued by the court, Koenig may not review confidential patient records without prior court approval.

The ombudsman must notify the bankruptcy trustee about her findings and post them in the health care facility two weeks before submitting her report to the court.

Steward has announced plans to sell its 31 hospitals.

An emergency motion filed last week in bankruptcy court proposes a June 24 deadline to make bids on Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland, and Sharon Regional Medical Center in Mercer County, Pennsylvania.

A June 3 hearing is scheduled on the motion which calls for a June 27 auction, and a July 2 sale hearing for the three hospitals.

The motion sets bidding procedures for selling Steward’s assets.

The Dallas-based Steward Health filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May claiming assets and liabilities between $1 billion and $10 billion.