Citibank was the administrative agent for the new agreement, which amends and restates the physician-led, for-profit health systems’ previous credit agreement in its entirety. Steward operates 39 hospitals in nine states and has more than 5,500 healthcare providers within its network.
Ralph de la Torre, MD, chair and CEO of Steward, said the health system is refocusing its value-based model after the COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the challenges of the traditional fee-for-service healthcare model.
“The extension of our ABL coupled with our reengineered structure position us extraordinarily well for the coming year,” he said in a news release. “We look forward to leading the industry in this new era of healthcare and continuing to provide world class care to our patients.”
Steward has more than 43,000 employees and cares for around 12.3 million patients a year. The health system also has a large accountable care organization. In June, CareMax, a technology-enabled value-based care company, acquired Steward’s Medicare value-based care business for around $23 million in cash and issued 23.5 million shares of Class A common stock to Steward’s equity holders.
