Cape, Islands community hospitals brace for growth amid Steward Health Care financial woes

Hospitals and health care providers on Cape Cod and the islands have seen an increase in patient volume but are bracing for greater numbers as Steward Health Care, a for-profit health care system, faces grave financial troubles and Gov. Maura Healey demands its departure from the state.

Healey has called on Steward to “complete an orderly transition out of Massachusetts.” The system, which operates 30 hospitals across the nation, has acknowledged it is seeking to transfer ownership of its Massachusetts hospitals as it has deals with overwhelming debt and financial challenges that threaten its ability to continue operating its seven active hospitals in Massachusetts.

Steward’s southeastern Massachusetts facilities include Morton Hospital in Taunton and St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.

“Anytime a health system closes or reduces service, there's going to be impacts all over the state, including increased demands in the community for care,” said Claire Seguin, chief nurse and vice president of operations at Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.

Seguin said since the pandemic there has been an increase in the volume of patients causing the facility to expand its services so that patients can avoid ferry trips to Boston to receive care.

“Our main goal is that patients never really need to go off the island ... and so we try to limit that wherever we can by delivering care locally.

“We have a lot of virtual visits … we can even do urgent care, believe it or not, off hours through the system,” said Seguin. The hospital, she said, has the island’s only full-service lab.

Seguin said the state has helped address a unique challenge around ambulance services requiring a ferry to transfer patients to a higher level of care off-island.

“We are very careful stewards of our resources, and we're very careful with our finances,” said Amy E. Lee, president and chief operating officer at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. They are investing in technology and educational resources to ensure that they provide “excellent care” to the patients.

Lee said Nantucket Cottage Hospital has an average wait time of 15 minutes and has telehealth care so that patients receive care on the island.

“We have a significant population that is below the poverty line and to travel off island for care is cost prohibitive.”

Both Nantucket Cottage and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital are part of the Mass General Brigham system.

“Being part of that system gives us some strength,” said Seguin.

That affiliation also relieves some of the stresses faced by other small community hospitals.

“Community hospitals are facing unprecedented workforce, capacity, and financial pressures that have intensified since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Patricia Noga, vice president of clinical affairs at Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, in an email.

The same is true, so far, for Cape Cod Healthcare, which operates two hospitals and six urgent care centers.

“We're busy in the acute sector. We're busy in the emergency rooms, urgent care. We're busy everywhere,” said Michael Lauf, the president and CEO, adding the system is managing the volume of patients well.

Community health care systems play a vital role in places they serve. Quality health care cannot be limited to large cities and academic medical centers, Lauf said. “I think community-based health care across our country is in danger.”

Despite the challenges, he said the organization continues to meet the demands of the patients.

“I think our quality is as high as ever, he said.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape, Islands hospitals say they are managing patient caseload