Ahead of a Beacon Hill hearing, a trio of Massachusetts lawmakers have called on a state oversight panel to ask some tough questions of the company that‘s taken over the physicians’ network formerly owned by bankrupt Steward Health Care.
Benson Sloan, the CEO of the private-equity-owned Rural Healthcare Group, is slated to testify Thursday before the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.
In a three-page letter obtained exclusively by MassLive, Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey asked the regulatory panel to press Sloan, who is expected to testify under oath, to “uphold the [company’s] public commitments” to continue participating in MassHealth, and to preserve continuity of care for former Steward patients.
“While we appreciate that RHG has voluntarily made these commitments to [the commission], we are concerned that non-binding commitments provide little, if any, assurances that this transaction will not adversely harm Massachusetts patients and providers,” Warren and Markey, who were joined on the Wednesday letter by U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-4th District, wrote.
In October, the company, which operates 17 clinics in Tennessee and North Carolina, closed a $245 million deal to acquire Stewardship Health.
Rural Healthcare is a subsidiary of the private equity firm Kinderhook Industries LLC, MassLive previously reported.
In September, the three lawmakers sent the company a letter, raising red flags that the sale would put Massachusetts residents “at the mercy of another private equity firm,” even as Dallas-based Steward wound down its operations in the Bay State.
The regulatory panel concluded last month that the sale carries “limited potential for negative impacts on spending and market dynamics,” and did not believe “the transaction is likely to affect the quality of care or access to services in Massachusetts,” MassLive previously reported.
“While the transaction presents uncertainties, as RHG is a young organization and a new private-equity backed entrant to the Massachusetts market, the HPC found that the immediate sale to RHG would allow Stewardship providers to continue to provide care for their patients, providing stability for patients, staff and the health care market at large,” regulators said in a statement summarizing their review of the sale.
In their letter to the commission, Warren, Markey and Auchincloss said Thursday’s public hearing was an opportunity for Sloan and the company to “address concerns about the clinical autonomy of Stewardship’s physicians, the potential for future price increases, and access to care for Massachusetts patients.”
They added that they “remain deeply troubled by the concerns outlined in our September letter to [the company], and [its] failure to provide written responses to the questions posed therein.
In a previous statement, Sloan said the company was “excited to bring our mission and approach to the state of Massachusetts.”
“In many ways, RHG has directly preserved and restored primary care in our Tennessee and North Carolina markets as both independent providers and health systems have sought us out to ensure long-term continuity of care in their communities,” he added.
“A thriving primary care infrastructure is critical to supporting local hospitals and specialists, as primary care providers are instrumental in ensuring patients are directed to the appropriate facilities at the right time,” Sloan said in that August statement.
