Story No. 3 of 2024: Two Valley hospitals make full recovery after traumatic year
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is No. 3 of the Top 10 stories of the year as voted on by newsroom staff.
WARREN — Dallas-based Steward Health Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection May 6 in a Houston U.S. bankruptcy court, citing billions in debt.
Within days, the company announced its intention to sell its more than 30 hospitals, including Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland — institutions key to the health and welfare of residents in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.
In August — after canceling an auction for the local hospitals after reporting to the court it had not received qualified bids for the facilities the month prior — Steward Health announced it planned to close the hospitals in Warren and Howland as well as multiple satellite facilities Sept. 20.
The announcement sent shockwaves through the community, which rallied to keep the facilities open.
A local coalition of community, business and elected officials accelerated plans to keep the hospitals open. The group formed months prior because it was aware of Steward Health’s precarious financial condition. Trumbull County commissioners and Warren City Council approved conditional letters of support to contribute up to $3 million apiece to keep the facilities open, and the United Way of Trumbull County opened a portal to accept donations from the community.
The decision to close, however, was paused with the announcement Aug. 31 of settlement talks and broad outlines of a global settlement agreement in the bankruptcy.
The court approved an interim plan Sept. 11 that transferred control of Trumbull Regional, Hillside and 13 other Steward Health facilities to its landlord, Medical Properties Trust, based in Alabama, using interim managers.
At the time, Michigan-based Insight Health System was named interim operator for the local sites. The final settlement was approved Sept. 18.
Insight was named permanent operator and acquired the facilities. The bill of sale was completed Oct. 30. A sale price was not disclosed.
“These organizations have top-notch programs and great physicians, and we have a feeling the community will be very excited when we’re able to fully put our fingerprints on every aspect of their operations,” Dr. Rany Aburashed, corporate chief medical officer for Insight, said in a release.
Earlier this month, Dr. Jawad Shah, founder and CEO of Insight Health, addressed the news media at an event also attended by local elected, community and business leaders as well as physicians, nurses and staff from the hospital.
He said what was immediately evident during the first visit by Insight Health officials to the hospital was the community investment in it and their desire for it to remain open. Also, there were strong external forces that made a lasting imprint.
“The community is unbelievably invested in this hospital. We are seeing elected officials, important members of the community, nurses, physicians, staff; they are very much wanting this hospital to survive,” Shah said. “This was one of our biggest assessments coming in.”
Internally, many of the pillars Insight Health was founded upon — from clinical safety to regulatory and legal compliance to financial stability to community presence to operational efficiency — already were in place.
“We were so surprised at how many of these pillars actually existed,” Shah said. “It was a matter of discovering that as opposed to doing something to change the reality on the ground.”
Some of the key accomplishments since taking control have been that the hospitals have been transferred to nonprofit status, the staff has been stabilized and neurology and neurosurgery have been brought in.
Shah said Insight Health is still working through revenue cycle management to ensure financial fitness, but volumes have increased as have emergency visits, charges and surgeries.
Plans include acquiring a new da Vinci surgical robot and converting the gift shop into a retail pharmacy. Other plans include expanding cardiac and behavioral health services as well as hiring more staff.
The hospitals are now known as Insight Hospital & Medical Center at Trumbull and Insight Rehabilitation Hospital Hillside.