Texas hospital poised for sale

As Steward Health Care continues to sell its hospitals, the for-profit health system has received an offer for one of its facilities in Texas.

CHRISTUS Health is looking to acquire Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas. CHRISTUS Health’s subsidiary, CHRISTUS Health Ark-La-Tex, has entered into a binding agreement to purchase Wadley Regional from Steward.

Steward has declared bankruptcy and is working to sell its hospitals. The Dallas-based organization announced Friday that it has reached a deal that would keep most of its hospitals open.

CHRISTUS Health, a nonprofit Catholic system, said its offer has been designated as the “stalking horse” bid. Others seeking to acquire Wadley Regional would have to submit higher bids or better qualifying offers by Sept. 9. If other bidders emerge, an auction would take place.

Ernie Sadau, president and CEO of CHRISTUS Health, said in a news release that the system is aiming to preserve essential services in Texarkana, a city in eastern Texas sitting on the border of Arkansas.

“CHRISTUS Health has a long, proud history of providing exceptional and compassionate care to the Texarkana community for over 100 years,” Sadau said in a statement. “We want to ensure that legacy of service continues into the next century and are best positioned to do that by bringing Wadley Regional Medical Center into the CHRISTUS family.”

Regulators must still sign off on the agreement. Wadley Regional has 185 beds, according to the American Hospital Directory.

CHRISTUS Health operates CHRISTUS St. Michael’s Hospital in Texarkana, along with a host of clinics and outpatient services. If CHRISTUS Health emerges as the winning bidder for Wadley Regional, the deal would be closed “in the coming months,” the system says.

Jason Adams, president of CHRISTUS St. Michael Health System in Texarkana, said the system is committed to expanding its “healing ministry,” particularly to the underserved.

“We have proudly built a reputation of providing high-quality care to all those in need,” Adams said in a statement.

Steward said late Friday that it has reached an agreement in principle with Medical Properties Trust that would facilitate the transfer of hospitals to new interim operators. Steward said in a news release that the agreement creates a path to keep “the majority of Steward hospitals open.”

Steward said Medical Properties Trust has signed off on the “release of billions of dollars of claims held by MPT against Steward.”

In addition, Steward says the deal allows the system to keep the proceeds of sales from three hospitals on Florida’s “Space Coast” to pay lenders and creditors. Orlando Health has put in a $439 million bid to purchase the three hospitals.

Two Steward hospitals in Massachusetts, Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, closed Saturday morning. Both hospitals said on their websites Saturday that they are permanently closed and no longer accepting patients. Healthcare workers and local officials, however, are continuing to work to reopen the hospitals.

Steward said Friday that it had lined up deals to sell six of its hospitals in Massachusetts. In August, Healey announced plans to preserve five former Steward hospitals in Massachusetts, lining up new ownership for the hospitals and providing $30 million in state aid to help keep them operating.