A Message from the President & CEO

As I approach my first 100 Days as President and CEO of Southcoast Health, I can state most sincerely that nothing is as important to me in my role as the wellbeing of families in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

That is why I am so alarmed at the recent news that Steward Health Care plans to sell off its nine hospitals in Massachusetts, including St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.

As you can imagine, this will be a complex transaction involving multiple parties – with the potential to be truly devastating for these hospitals’ patients and employees if there is an interruption of service. In the worst case, if Steward and their partners fail to find a buyer, or enough buyers, they may have to close one or more of their hospitals. 

St. Anne’s patients and employees are part of our community; they are our family members, friends and neighbors. This is why we are taking action to step up and care for our community as we always have, and why we are announcing our strong interest in having St. Anne’s Hospital join the Southcoast Health family.

The fact is, Southcoast Health is the only health system that can offer the exceptional, comprehensive care and service that all the families of our region deserve. As our region’s only not-for-profit health system, we have proven that there is no one else – no one in Boston, in Providence, nationally or elsewhere – who can provide the same level of dedicated and skilled clinical care and service that we provide to this community every day.

As we engage with Steward, our message to them is clear: The best option for St. Anne’s Hospital, its patients, its employees, and our community, is for St. Anne’s to join the Southcoast Health family.

National health systems, whether for-profit or not-for-profit, have much less at stake when it comes to public health and community outreach in the areas where they operate. Large Boston- or Providence-based health systems provide exceptional care, as we do, but they would likely require or direct patients to travel to their cities for specialized treatment, increasing the cost of care while reducing access to care for all communities.

Ultimately, our goal is to further provide our region with patient-centered, community-based healthcare, and to offer employment opportunities to talented caregivers and healthcare workers currently serving Steward’s patients.

Our next step is to conduct thorough due diligence to determine whether an acquisition to any degree would be viable. I will keep you informed throughout this process.

As always, thank you for your support of Southcoast Health.

Sincerely,