State's top health official: No savior for Nashoba Valley Medical Center

Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately reported when the hospital will close its doors to patients.

WORCESTER — Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer will close at midnight Saturday, and don’t expect a buyer to enter the picture at the last minute to save it.

That assessment came from Dr. Robert Goldstein, commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, during a stop in Worcester on Wednesday to commemorate International Opioid Awareness Day.

More: Steward finalizes four hospital deals, expects $42M in state aid

The Massachusetts Nurses Association has a different take. It said talks are heating up at the 11th hour as potential buyers are in play for Nashoba and Carney Hospital in Boston, both owned by bankrupt Steward Health Care.

"There is serious, real interest," said David Schildmeier, a nurses association spokesman. "Parties are negotiating, and there is active interest by legitimate entities. We hope something breaks free to save these facilities." He declined to name the potential buyers.

Nashoba will shut its doors to patients at 7 a.m. Saturday, according to Goldstein. The cut-off time for patients makes sense, he said, because there won’t be enough hours before midnight to triage new emergency cases and send them to other hospitals.

Steward told the state late last month that it planned to close Nashoba on Aug. 31. The for-profit company based in Dallas claims no qualified buyers made a pitch for Nashoba.

Ambulance on standby

Steward’s closure plan was met with a “stern” response by the state’s public health department, said Goldstein, who said he expected more answers from Steward by Thursday. Based on a review of documents, one disagreement between the parties is ambulance coverage at Nashoba after Aug. 31. The state Department of Public Health wants Steward to keep an ambulance parked outside the emergency room for one week after closure. Steward told the state it would be two days.

"Woefully insufficient" is how Schildmeier described the closure process, especially after the state Department of Public Health held a public hearing and subsequently determined Nashoba is an essential service to the communities it serves.

The state health department can require a hospital owner submit plans showing how patients will access comparable services after closure, but it has no legal authority to force an owner to keep a hospital open.

A court filing this week from a health care consultant that is monitoring patient care urged the parties to keep the Nashoba emergency room open for 30 days or pay for an ambulance to stay parked outside the emergency room for at least a week after the facility shuts down.

There is a call line for Nashoba patients to get information about accessing care after the hospital ends on-site services. The number provided by Steward is (617) 789-2228, and it will take calls 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. The service went online Monday, and will run for a minimum of 30 days.

Strategy shift

That number appears to fall in line with the state's shift from stopping closure to next steps. “We've really shifted our energy and our attention to making sure that there's a safe plan in place after closure, and what will that entail,” said Goldstein.

What it entails, he said, is working with surrounding hospitals, including UMass Memorial in Leominster and Emerson Hospital in Concord, to ensure they have the necessary services to absorb Nashoba’s patients. The services include urgent care and emergency room space.

Fire departments and ambulance services are being briefed on routes to take patients to alternative hospitals, that they have contracts with those hospitals, and that their trucks are fully stocked with supplies.

Getting the message out to Nashoba patients of where to go for care after closure is also part of the safety plan.

Why not some of the $700 million for Nashoba?

When asked about reports that the state is prepared to pump $700 million into six Steward hospitals in Massachusetts to keep them going until nonprofit health systems take them over and why the same isn’t being done for Nashoba, Goldstein said those hospitals have buyers and Nashoba doesn’t.

“The state is not necessarily stepping into those other hospitals in perpetuity, we're stepping in to help provide a bridge to the new operator,” said Goldstein. “There is no new operator in place for Nashoba Valley Medical Center, and so there would be no end to the support that the state would have to provide.”

UMass Memorial could be a potential buyer , according to John McDonough, a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School for Public Health and a former state lawmaker. McDonough’s sources told him UMass had discussions with state officials about a purchase, but the outcome was “not optimal.”

It’s also been reported that UMass floated the idea of converting Nashoba’s emergency room into an urgent care center or skilled nursing facility. UMass Memorial said in a prepared statement that it has no plans to make a bid for one of Steward’s hospitals.

Steward and Gov. Maura T. Healey’s administration has not received a plan from UMass regarding Nashoba, said Goldstein, and he doesn’t know of anything that’s in the works for that to happen before Aug. 31.

UMass: Important role to play

However, Goldstein believes UMass has an important role to play in making sure Nashoba’s patients have access to quality health care after the hospital shuts down.

“I'm hopeful that they want to step up, and they want to do something to support the residents. What that looks like though, I don't have any knowledge.”

Can't keep the same course in Nashoba Valley

Goldstein reiterated Nashoba hospital will close on Saturday because there isn’t a buyer, but he believes it’s an opportunity to look at ways to improve health care in the Nashoba Valley region.

“I do think if we end up with exactly the same that we've had for the past 100 years in Ayer, then we haven't done our job,” said Goldstein. “Our job is actually to think about what does the community need right now, what services, what types of health care and what locations and work to achieve that.”

“So I can't tell you exactly what it's going to look like six months from now, but I do think that we have a lot of interested people who want to do the right thing for Nashoba Valley and the residents. We’re all going to work together to get there.”

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com . Follow him on X: @henrytelegram .

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: State's top health official: No savior for Nashoba Valley Medical Center