Lawmakers to examine forprofit health care

Federal and state lawmakers on Wednesday promised heightened scrutiny of for-profit health care, as the Massachusetts attorney general pledged to “use every tool available” to address any problems that stem from Steward Health Care’s plan to sell its physicians network to Optum. That deal, unveiled in a Tuesday filing with the state Health Policy Commission, involves two for-profit operators in a state long dominated by nonprofit hospitals and health insurers. The commission will review the transaction, but it’s not clear if that agency or the attorney general have the power to stop it. The deal also faces federal review. Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell said in a statement that her office will study the proposed deal “to ensure that it adequately protects public access to competitive affordable health care options” and “its proceeds are directed toward supporting the operations of Steward’s in-state hospitals until they can be transitioned to new operators.” Financially stressed Steward, which last year fell behind in paying bills and rents, has said it is looking for buyers for its Massachusetts hospitals even as it seeks to raise money from the sale of its national doctors network, Stewardship Health, to stabilize finances. Steward and Optum, an arm of health care giant UnitedHealth, didn’t include the price of the proposed acquisition in the Tuesday filing. Neither company would disclose financial terms Wednesday, or even specify basic information such as the number of doctors in the Stewardship physicians network in Massachusetts. That network includes primary care doctors and some other clinicians. US Senator Ed Markey (above), meanwhile, said he’s invited Ralph de la Torre, chief executive of Dallas-based Steward Health, to answer questions 0n Wednesday at a Boston field hearing of a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions subcommittee. On Beacon Hill, Senator Cindy Friedman, who cochairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, said she and her colleagues are working on a bill that would boost oversight, accountability, and transparency for private equityowned health care in Massachusetts. She said legislation could be filed later in the current session. ” — ROBERT WEISMAN