As Steward Health sells its management functions to a third party, the Ohio Nurses Association is calling them a vile company who’s reckless and unaccountable. 

”We thought we were finally rid of them and moving on and here they are reaching back again for one last money grab,” Rick Lucas, the President & Executive Director of ONA said. “It's absolutely predatory. I mean they're capitalizing on the suffering of others, on the suffering of staff, on the suffering of patients.”

It’s a similar move Steward has made in other states, trying to claw back money as it goes through bankruptcy. 

In Massachusetts, Steward demanded $100,000 back from a non-profit that used the money to fund a low income food program and demanded millions from another hospital to keep IT services up. 

“Steward is a very salient example of some of the worst outcomes that can happen,” Matt Parr Communications Director for Private Equity Stakeholder Project said. “We see profits being extracted from healthcare companies, from hospitals and private equity firms and their executives are the ones really seeing these profits.”

Experts say for-profit and private equity health systems are notorious for closing hospitals and lowering patient care with their only goal being making money. 

“Ohio, in our score, ranks as high risk for its healthcare sector being under influence of the negative effects of private equity,” Parr said. 

States like Massachusetts recently passed legislation to “close loopholes” that allow for-profits to keep financial distress in the dark. 

ONA is asking our state lawmakers for something similar to regulate those behind the curtain and protect workers and patients in the future.

“Private equity and all of this corporate greed has no place in our health system,” Lucas said.