WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ralph de la Torre will step down as CEO of troubled Steward Healthcare next week after the U.S. Senate held him in criminal contempt for refusing to testify about cost-cutting decisions in the U.S. Senate, the company said on Saturday. The group’s 31 hospitals before it declared bankruptcy.
De la Torre will no longer serve as CEO and chairman of the board effective Oct. 1 as part of a tentative agreement reached earlier this month, the Dallas-based company said in a statement.
A spokesperson for De La Torre confirmed that the former heart surgeon has “parted amicably from Steward on mutually acceptable terms,” and “will remain a tireless advocate for improving reimbursement rates for underserved patients.”
The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to hold de la Torre in contempt of Congress after he refused to attend a September 12 hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which was investigating Steward’s financial problems. De la Torre was summoned to attend the hearing.
Steward, the largest privately owned hospital network in the United States, filed for bankruptcy in May, seeking to sell all of its hospitals and address its $9 billion debt. The company has sold several hospitals since that filing.
“Dr. De La Torre urges a continued focus on this mission and believes Steward’s financial challenges highlight Massachusetts’ continued failure to reform the health care structure and inequities in the state’s system,” his spokesperson said.
A number of hospitals affected by Steward’s financial problems were located in Massachusetts.