The Dallas-based owner of Holy Family Hospital, with campuses in Methuen and Haverhill, plans to close its Stoughton rehabilitation hospital due to multi-million-dollar losses. Steward Health Care’s decision to close New England Sinai Acute Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Hospital by early April, company officials say, will help and not harm its Merrimack Valley hospitals. “In fact, the difficult decision to close NESH was made specifically to safeguard the strength of operations of other Steward hospitals, including ours, and protect our standard of care,” Holy Family Hospital President Craig A. Jesiolowski told staff Wednesday by email. “Holy Family will continue to serve the families of the Merrimack Valley and we will continue to ensure we can meet the demands of the health care industry as it continues to change.”
Steward said in a press release this week, “Nearly 75% of Steward hospital patients are public pay (Medicare and Medicaid) which chronically underpay, sometimes at rates less than the cost of delivering services. As a result of these chronic low reimbursement rates, Steward has lost $22 million from NESH operations and cannot afford to keep the facility open.
