Steward is a for-profit health system that owns 31 hospitals in eight states. It filed for Chapter 11 protection in May and is looking to sell all its hospitals.
State and federal officials say Steward’s hospitals have left trails of unpaid bills across the country, but they allege the company has been paying executives, including de la Torre, millions of dollars despite the financial struggles.
Bipartisan leaders of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee accused the health system’s leaders of spectacular corporate greed that harmed patient care. They said the scope of the issues, combined with what they said was de la Torre’s refusal to cooperate voluntarily, warranted the panel's first subpoena since 1981.
Senators said de la Torre will be required to face questions from the committee at a hearing on Sept. 12.
“The decision to subpoena Steward does not come lightly but the situation is actively impacting patients and the communities we represent,” the panel’s top Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said.
Ahead of the vote, Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) showed pictures of de la Torre’s $40 million yacht, $15 million luxury fishing boat and the company’s two corporate jets that cost nearly $100 million.
“It is time for Dr. de la Torre to get off of his yacht and to explain to Congress the financial chicanery which made him extremely wealthy, while the hospitals he managed went bankrupt,” Sanders said.
De la Torre founded Steward in 2010 with the financial backing of New York private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. He expanded nationally, buying hospitals in Florida, Texas, Arizona and several other states.
While Sanders and Democrats said Steward’s troubles were fueled by its private equity ownership, Cassidy said only de la Torre himself was to blame.
