A major communications company is trying to get out of continuing services to multiple medical center accounts amid the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care System LLC over a debt of more than $137,000.
Charter Communications, also known as Spectrum, filed a motion for relief on Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, stating that the company has asked Steward to reconcile debts owed but that they have been unresponsive.
Listed in the filing were medical centers Charter said it was still providing service to in Texas, Pennsylvania and Florida. A full list is provided at the end of the article.
The filing did not say which specific services Charter was offering the centers, only stating that it provides “various communications services.” Charter, under its Spectrum brand, offers internet, mobile, cable TV and home phone services.
Why can’t Charter simply pull the plug?
The court has a stay in place as a part of bankruptcy proceedings that doesn’t allow Charter to terminate its services to Steward facilities, according to the filing.
Charter is asking for relief from that stay so they can stop providing their services.
Steward’s bankruptcy filing has been well-reported in Massachusetts.
Steward filed for bankruptcy in May of 2024, one month after closing New England Sinai Hospital in Stoughton, a move which resulted in the loss of dozens of rehabilitation service beds and more than 100 chronic care beds.
Steward’s bankruptcy filing put multiple other Massachusetts hospitals in jeopardy, and five of them were bailed out by the state that August in a move Gov. Maura Healey term as a “good riddance and goodbye” deal.
Reverberations of Steward leaving the state were still being felt months later.
Charter’s filing seeking to end communication services to multiple medical centers would affect the following:
- Steward Medical Group, Port Arthur, Texas
- Steward Sharon Regional, Sharon, Pennsylvania
- Steward Medical Group, Melbourne, Florida
- Wuesthoff Health System, Rockledge, Florida
- Medical Center of Southeast, Port Arthur, Texas
- Medical Center of Texas, Port Arthur, Texas
- South East Texas Medical Associates, Beaumont, Texas
- The Medical Center SETX, Port Arthur, Texas
- Medical Center of S E TX, Port Arthur, Texas
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