Steward Health CEO who refused to testify to US Senate will step down

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ralph de la Torre will step down as CEO of troubled Steward Health Care next week, the company said on Saturday, after he was held in criminal contempt by the U.S. Senate for refusing to testify about cost-cutting decisions at the group’s 31 hospitals before it filed for bankruptcy.

In a statement, the Dallas-based company said de la Torre would no longer serve as its CEO and chairman as of Oct. 1 as part of an agreement in principle reached earlier this month.

A spokesperson for de la Torre confirmed that the former heart surgeon “has amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms,” and “he will continue to be a tireless advocate for the improvement of reimbursement rates for the underprivileged patient population.”

The Senate unanimously voted on Wednesday to hold de la Torre in criminal contempt of Congress after he declined to attend a Sept. 12 hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which was probing Steward’s financial troubles. De la Torre had been subpoenaed to attend the hearing.

Steward, the largest privately owned hospital network in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in May, seeking to sell all of its hospitals and address $9 billion in debt. The company has sold several hospitals since that filing.

“Dr. de la Torre urges continued focus on this mission and believes Steward’s financial challenges put a much-needed spotlight on Massachusetts’ ongoing failure to fix its healthcare structure and the inequities in its state system,” his spokesperson said.

A number of hospitals affected by Steward’s financial troubles were based in Massachusetts.