Ralph de la Torre Steps Down as CEO of Steward Health Care

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ralph de la Torre will step down as CEO of troubled Steward Health Care next week, the company announced 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 prior to its bankruptcy filing.

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

A spokesperson for de la Torre stated that the former heart surgeon “has amicably separated from Steward on mutually agreeable terms,” and emphasized, “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 by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which was investigating Steward’s financial troubles. He had been subpoenaed to appear.

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

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

A number of hospitals impacted by Steward’s financial troubles are located in Massachusetts.