Senate votes to subpoena Steward Health CEO to testify at September hearing

The U.S. Senate HELP Committee held a hearing Thursday morning to vote to launch an investigation into the bankruptcy of Steward Health and subpoena Steward CEO Dr. Ralph de la Torre.

The Committee agreed to authorize the investigation and subpoena Dr. de la Torre to testify at a September 12 hearing titled "Examining the Bankruptcy of Steward Health Care: How Management Decisions Have Impacted Patient Care."

20 out of 21 voted in favor of authorizing the investigation and 16 out of 21 voted in favor of subpoenaing Dr. de la Torre.

Senator Rand Paul was the only one to vote against the investigation, and Senator Paul, along with Tommy Tuberville, Markwayne Mullin and Ted Budd all voted against subpoenaing Dr. de la Torre. Senator Lisa Murkowski did not vote in favor of or against the subpoena.

During the hearing Senators Bernie Sanders, Ed Markey and Bill Cassidy all spoke and slammed Dr. de la Torre demanding he be held accountable and answer to his role in the company's bankruptcy and various hospitals across the country closing their doors.

Senator Sanders, who is chair of the HELP Committee, said Steward closing hospitals is not anything new and goes back at least 10 years. Sanders referenced several hospitals that closed including one right here in the Mahoning Valley.

"In 2018, Steward shut down the Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown, Ohio laying off 468 health care workers and closing the only labor and delivery unit in that city for pregnant women and their babies," Sanders said.

On the topic of the more recent closures, Sanders slammed de la Torre asserting that as many of Steward's hospitals were forced to close their doors due to bankruptcy, he spent millions of dollars on a luxury yacht, a fishing boat and two private jets.

"How many of Steward's hospitals could have been prevented from shutting down, how many lives could have been saved, how many health care workers would still have their jobs if Dr. de la Torre spent $150 million on high-quality health care instead of his yacht, two private jets and a luxury fishing boat," Sanders asked.

Meanwhile, Senator Cassidy grilled Dr. de la Torre for "bad management decisions" including the "questionable financial decision" to have Steward sell its real estate holdings to Medical Properties Trust (MPT) and have Steward's hospitals lease them back.

"From there, [de la Torre's] bad management decisions continued. In 2018, Steward entered into a public private partnership with the country of Malta to run a number of hospitals in Malta. The deal is now under investigation by the Department of Justice over allegations of fraud and corruption," Cassidy said.

Senator Cassidy went on to reference a time in 2020 when Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm that formed Steward in a joint venture with de la Torre, sold its controlling ownership stake in the company to a group of physicians led by de la Torre.

"To secure the funds to purchase Cerberus controlling interest, Dr. de la Torre secured a loan from MPT. The buyout allegedly earned him a $100 million dividend. While Dr. de la Torre was paying himself million, Steward fell behind in its mortgage payments," Cassidy said.

Cassidy said these decisions "spelled the beginning of the end" for Steward.

Senator Markey also took time to slam Dr. de la Torre saying "disaster began" once he started Steward and "invited private equity and real estate entities into the halls of our health care system."

"Under Dr. de la Torre's leadership, health providers and hospital administrators watched emergency room lines grow forced to face patients knowing that they did not have the resources and staff needed to provide the world-class care that Steward and Dr. de la Torre had promised," Senator Markey said.

Steward's bankruptcy was first announced in May of 2024 with the company proposing a timeline to sell its physician network to Optum, a division of United Health. 

This sale process has gone through hurdles with the Department of Justice opposing the original timeline for the auctions and sale hearings resulting in revised auction and sale hearing dates for some hospitals. 

Optum eventually backed out of the deal in late June.

Steward owns three hospitals in the Valley including Trumbull Regional Medical Center, Sharon Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital.