Rhode Island’s largest hospital system, Lifespan, confirmed Friday that it’s finalizing a deal to buy two of the Massachusetts hospitals owned by the distressed Steward Health Care.

Lifespan said in a statement that it’s “finalizing the terms of a bid” to purchase Saint Anne’s Hospital in Fall River and Morton Hospital in Taunton. The pair are among the Massachusetts hospitals operated by Steward, a privately-held for-profit company based in Dallas, Texas.

All of the deals require approval by state and federal regulators, as well as a federal bankruptcy court in Texas where Steward filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on May 6. Steward has been trying to sell off its assets in Massachusetts and other states to pay creditors. 

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced Friday that “deals in principle” had been reached to transition operations from four of Steward’s five hospitals to new operators. The Healey administration also said in a statement that it plans to take control of Saint Elizabeth’s in Boston through eminent domain “to facilitate the transition to a new owner and keep the hospital open.”

St. Anne's Hospital in Fall River, Mass.
St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River, Mass. Credit: Courtesy Steward Health Care

Besides Lifespan’s deal to buy Saint Anne’s and Morton Hospitals, Boston Medical Center plans to take over Steward’s hospital in Brockton, the Good Samaritan Medical Center, and Lawrence General Hospital plans to buy Holy Family Hospital, which has campuses in Methuen and Haverhill. 

Two other Steward facilities, Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer, are slated to close by the end of August.

At a press conference Friday announcing the deals, Healey said that the situation was “created by the greed and exploitation” of Steward’s operators, which brought its hospitals “nearly to the brink of collapse.’’

Healey said in a statement that Massachusetts has committed $30 million to keep the hospitals open through the end of the month. And the governor demanded that Steward make good on its commitment for severance pay to employees as part of any Massachusetts sale. All Steward facilities remain open and are treating patients, the statement said.  

Lynn joined The Public's Radio as health reporter in 2017 after more than three decades as a journalist, including 28 years at The Providence Journal. Her series "A 911 Emergency," a project of the 2019...