WARREN — Steward Health Care System has proposed bidding procedures for its assets, which include three hospitals in the Mahoning Valley. The bankrupt health care provider states the process promotes a competitive and robust bidding process, while allowing it to sell quickly.

Documents in the Dallas-based company’s Chapter 11 case call for a June 24 bid deadline for hospitals it operates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and five other states, with an auction proposed for June 27. A sale hearing would be July 2.

Steward Health operates Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland and Sharon Regional Medical Center in Sharon, Pa. It does not operate any other hospital in either state.

It is proposing a July 26 bid deadline for its hospitals in Florida, an auction date of July 20 with a sale hearing proposed for Aug. 5. Those dates also would be for the system’s other assets, according to the filing.

The company started the Chapter 11 process May 6 in a Houston bankruptcy court, listing billions in debt. Operating 31 hospitals in eight states, it is the largest physician-owned for-profit health care network in the U.S.

Ahead of its bankruptcy filing, the company began to market its assets for sale, contacting more than 250 potential bidders, the document states.

That process has “yielded significant interest” in its assets and Steward Health is “in active discussions with numerous bidders” interested in operating its hospitals and care business, the document states.

Steward Health has “generated interest” in its hospitals in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

The document also states the company has a letter of intent and is in “advanced discussions” with Collaborative Care Holdings, LLC, an affiliate or UnitedHealth Group, to act as the stalking horse purchaser for Stewardship Health, the company’s nationwide physician network.

Steward Health hopes to announce a stalking horse agreement with UnitedHealth “in the near-term” that “will provide for a floor value and maximize the value” of Stewardship Health’s assets, the filing states.

The filing also states other buyers are interested in bidding on Stewardship Health’s assets.

A stalking horse bid, or agreement, is the initial bid for a company’s assets. The stalking horse bidder sets the low end of the purchase price.

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