Hospital taking hearing has no opposition

The Massachusetts Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight hosted a hearing last Thursday on House Bill 5047 with about a dozen panelists speaking to the need to take Norwood Hospital by eminent domain.

No one at the hearing spoke in opposition to the measure; however until there is a vote, it’s not easy to tell what the general atmosphere in the legislature is around the proposal when and if a final vote comes. But Joint Committee House Chair State Rep Antonio Cabral said towards the end of the hearing that a decision from the committee, at the very least, to move this along or not should be coming relatively quick.

“I just want you to know this is an important issue for this committee as well,” he said. “We are looking at it very closely; obviously eminent domain is a serious issue that we have to ponder on and look at, but we will make a decision in this committee sooner rather than later. We plan on moving quickly on the bills we have heard today, including this one. Of course we have rules we have to follow; there is a process, and we have to make sure that process is followed.”

The measure comes from State Rep. John Rogers and State Sen. Michael Rush, who are pushing for the state to take control of Norwood Hospital and for the state to find a new operator, specifically a non-profit operator, to finally come in and take over Norwood Hospital. According to several speakers at the meeting, a nonprofit operator has been in talks with the owner for some time, but nothing has come of it.

For those who don’t know, Norwood Hospital flooded in June of 2020 due to a huge rain storm that dropped almost a foot of water in two hours. The hospital was later found to be damaged beyond repair, and then operator Steward and its landlord, Medical Properties Trust (MPT), started the process to rebuild. However, Steward spectacularly imploded due to, at the very best, financial mismanagement, or at the very worst, intentional misconduct, and MPT took over the building project.

According to Norwood Town Manager Tony Mazzucco, MPT has been in talks with at least one potential operator for over a year now, and Rogers said legislation passed last year would make it basically impossible for MPT to continue its rental hospital model. The model is at least partially blamed for Steward’s implosion, as Steward sold all its hospital land in 2016 and then paid high rents to MPT since that time. Steward was very much behind on its rent after the shutdown and building project – rent it was still paying for Norwood Hospital – when it stopped paying its builders and contractors for Norwood Hospital in the winter of 2023/24.

Given all that, Rogers said he wants to use, at the very least, the threat of eminent domain to move the process along, as it’s been a year now and nothing has progressed. Rogers, Rush, Lynch, Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts Director of EMS Tom Henderson and more spoke about the fact that the loss of the hospital has been a regional issue and likely caused preventable deaths.

Mazzucco and others pointed out that MPT has now its insurance payment for the loss of Norwood Hospital (despite a long legal battle with its insurer Zurich over what the definition of flood waters is – https://tinyurl.com/25yb6ur5 ) and will not be as negatively affected by the taking, if it happens, as one might think.

Rogers, Rush and Lynch laid out the regional arguments for taking the hospital. According to the trio and other data around Norwood Hospital, just on a regular year the hospital served a region of more than 250,000 people in about 20 municipalities. This was highlighted when Walpole Selectman Jim O’Neil spoke and said the Town’s ambulances are facing heavy strain driving to Needham and Boston for every run.

Since the flooding and closure, “The residents of Walpole have faced a growing public health crisis,” he said. “For decades Norwood Hospital served as a critical anchor for our region, and its absence is a void that cannot be filled by distant facilities. Our first responders are currently under immense strain. Because Norwood is closed, we must transport patients to Boston, Needham, Newton or Brockton. These round trips consistently exceed one hour, and sometimes two.”

He said this has increased response times, reduced flexibility and put emotional and physical strain on the Town’s EMS and fire staff.

For Norwoodians, all this should sound familiar. Norwood Fire Chief Timothy Bailey – and the three or four chiefs who came before him since the time the hospital flooded – has repeatedly stated that this increased run time for ambulances has negatively affected his staff. It’s certainly required the Town to increase spending on new ambulances, as the vehicles have been wearing out faster.

Rush pointed out that the region needs this hospital, as its facilities are not found anywhere close to many nearby towns. Both he and Lynch said nearby hospitals are already filling up and overflowing, with many patients forced to occupy hallways in hospital beds because there is just not enough room.

“Norwood Hospital has never been a community hospital just for the Town of Norwood. It is a regional hospital that serves the needs of many, many communities and individuals,” he said. “In my role as a State Senator I have had many conversations with doctors, nurses, hospital administrators and more in Boston and surrounding communities and they have all impressed on me that the closure of Norwood Hospital has put a tremendous strain on their resources.”

Lynch added that this overflow is affecting ambulances as well.

“Mass General is asking first responders, ‘Can you leave the ambulance in the parking lot with the patient in it? Because we don’t have a space for them right now,’” he said. “That’s making the delays even worse.”

Lynch said the for-profit nature of the hospital and its rent/landlord structure basically meant that Steward and MPT had been taking Medicaid funding – half paid by state taxes and half paid by federal taxes – for their own profit. Money was effectively being pocketed by a private company, and that would not happen again.

“The CEO was buying yachts, and right now in Congress, and I can say this on behalf of Democrats and my colleague Republicans, for-profit healthcare has very low support in the federal government, principally because taxpayer money is paying the dividends and profits for private equity partners,” he said.

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Lynch said MPT is “trying to play the clock” for the best deal it can get on the hospital, and so it was felt that getting the eminent domain bill passed and the process started would be a good way to motivate them to a faster deal, rather than the most profitable. And if that doesn’t work, the state can take the hospital and find an operator itself, making the measure a win-win.

Mazzucco discussed the impact for surrounding towns, like Sharon, Mansfield, Wrentham or Foxboro. He said if you were to have a heart attack in those areas, you are 40 minutes from an acute care hospital.

“Norwood Hospital had a cardiac catheterization lab, which is what you need when you’re having a heart attack,” he said. “Eight miles from the greatest medical center in the world, we are 40 minutes away if you are in any of these communities. The best hospitals in the world do not matter if patients can’t reach them.”

Selectman Bob Donnelly said Norwood Hospital likely saved his brother’s life, as he was driving and suffered an acute cardiac event. He was able to drive to Norwood Hospital and receive care.

“He probably should have pulled off the road and called 911, but we Donnellys can be a bit stubborn sometimes,” he said. “My personal connection when I remember that, today, is how many stories are there like this? I mean if my brother was driving out of Boston today and experiencing that on I-95, there would be no cardiac cath within a 20- or 30-minute drive to take care of him. I dread to think of what these circumstances are, and it pains me to think of others in that situation.”

And while the medical side of the coin is the most acute, Neponset Valley Chamber of Commerce President Tom O’Rourke pointed out the hospital brings in about 100,000 people a year to the local economy in and around Norwood, not to mention the workforce and ancillary needs – repairs, maintenance, upgrades etc. – that come to the hospital for regular work. He said Rush and Rogers recently got funds for an economic impact study regarding the closure of the hospital, but he said he’s fairly confident he knows the gist of what will come.

“I believe it will shine a light on just how deeply our regional economy has been impacted,” he said.

Previous estimates of the old hospital put it at about $2 billion in direct and indirect economic activity for the region.