A Warren-based organization responsible for training graduate medical students at three former Steward Healthcare System hospitals sought federal bankruptcy court protection Wednesday to prevent the company from obtaining its student database.

Western Reserve Health Education filed its protective order request with the Southern District of Texas, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, in Houston. It also is seeking payment for services after Steward ended their contract Dec. 20, 2024.

Specifically, Western Reserve Health Education cites proprietary information from its Intern and Resident Information System to Trumbull Regional Medical Center as the object of Steward’s request, according to court records.

The group is associated with former Steward properties Trumbull Regional Medical Center, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital and Sharon Regional Medical Center.

“This system contains critical, sensitive, confidential and proprietary data related to the students enrolled in our educational programs, as well as information about past patients with whom students have interacted during their clinical training,” said Kimberly Howe, Western Reserve president, in an affidavit.

Information in the database includes Social Security numbers; citizenship and visa status; immunization records; monthly evaluations; disciplinary actions; and evaluations.

“These records are internally tailored to WRHE’s specific programming needs and are not found in any publicly accessible database.”

According to the filing, the defunct hospital system sought access April 16 to Western Reserve’s records to address the group’s motion involving contract issues and its pursuit of administrative expenses, account and turnover related to Steward’s bankruptcy.

According to its 2022 IRS Form 990, accessed on Guidestar.org, its mission is to provide “lifelong learning opportunities for physicians and health care professionals in all areas of clinical care and research.”

It dates its involvement with the Valley’s medical community to the late 1800s, according to its website, www.wrhe-edu.org.

Western Reserve said it taught 71 graduated physicians and 525 medical students in 2022.