Gov. Healey signs ceremonial hospital bill

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey came to the Norwood Central Commuter Rail Station to ceremonially sign the bill that has become part of the Chapter 178 of the Acts of 2026 and the law of the land.

About 100 residents, officials, politicians, business leaders and press came to the event. Healey said it was a long time coming.

“This is a great day for Norwood and the region,” she said. “It’s something we’ve all been fighting for and working towards, and I’m really glad to be here with this really substantial group of folks here. It took a lot of people working to move this forward. Bottom line: we want to see a hospital opened here, and we want to see healthcare access restored to Norwood and the region. That’s what today is about.”

The hospital closed in 2020 after being completely inundated and made inoperable by massive flooding. Norwood Town Manager Tony Mazzucco recalled the night the hospital closed.

“I was there as floodwaters overtook the facility, patients were evacuated, and our community – and this region – faced a crisis that none of us could fully comprehend at that moment,” he said. “Some of the first responders you see here today – I see Firefighter (Dennis) Mawn, Firefighter (Paul) Ronco and Chief (Timothy) Bailey – they were here that night, just over there when we had to evacuate the hospital, along with all the nurses there at the time. In the face of a 500-year storm, a mircoburst that tore at the heart of our community, three months into the worst pandemic in a century, first responders from Norwood joined with those from nearly 40 other communities to evacuate the 147 patients from this hospital, with no injuries, and everybody getting the care they needed. That was an incredible feat.”

Since then, its former operator Steward Healthcare financially imploded, and the property owner Medical Properties Trust (MPT) has not sold the property or found a new operator, leaving the site in apparent limbo. The eminent domain legislation is both a push to MPT to sell the property to a non-profit hospital or operator, or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will take the hospital and sell it itself (likely at a substantially reduced sale price for MPT).

“Today, our governor signs what will become Chapter 178 of the Acts of 2026, which says to MPT, you’ve got two months and 10 days,” said State Rep. John Rogers. “That’s sufficient time to locate a qualified non-profit local hospital operator. And if you don’t do it by Nov. 1, the people of Massachusetts, through their elected officials, will take the property away from you and get the job done themselves.”

Healey said the bill could not have been passed without the support of residents of Norwood and the surrounding towns historically served by Norwood Hospital.

“I want to say thanks to all the folks in this region who have continued to advocate so hard in the last couple of years to get to this point,” she said.

Healey said Steward “abandoned” Massachusetts after its bankruptcy and left residents ‘holding the check’. She said residents have had to go farther and take longer to get urgent medical care.

“These are life and death matters,” she said. “Healthcare is about life and death – people’s well-being. That’s why when a hospital closes in a region, it’s a really bad thing. It’s a devastating thing. And today is about moving forward after the failure of Steward and the frustration, frankly, of MPT. Norwood deserves a hospital.”

Healey expanded on issues around MPT, apparently alluding to an incident in the fall of last year when Mass General Brigham was allegedly in talks with MPT to buy the hospital. It was reported that MPT was offering the hospital for $250 million, but then once Brigham agreed, jacked it up to $375 million.

“No more delays, and no more unreasonable demands,” she said. “We’re going to monitoring it every step of the way, and if they don’t get this done, this law allows us to step in.”

Congressperson Stephen Lynch said he was amazed that State Rep. John Rogers and State Sen. Michael Rush were able to get the legislation through so quickly. It was first filed in January and passed earlier this summer.

“It’s amazing that Mike and John were able to build a coalition among all the legislators you see behind me, who were co-sponsors, either in the house or the senate, to push this bill forward,” he said. “Many were on the committees that I testified before in order to describe the level of need and the desperate situation that many of the families who relied on Norwood Hospital found themselves in after the closing. It’s amazing Rush and Rogers were able to do this in record time. And then to have someone who was courageous enough – because this is a big step – to declare that a piece of property should be taken for public purpose and pledge public support for a project like this in a time like this, when there are so many demands on our budget, Gov. Healey was our true single champion in making sure this got done.”

Rogers said the for-profit model in healthcare helped to lead to Steward’s implosion, and said he hopes it is a relic of the past.

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“We had great healthcare close to home, and then private equity took over in Steward Health Care, and they siphoned out the profits, bankrupted the hospitals and abandoned us,” he said. “Thankfully Congressman Stephen Lynch, Gov. Healey, State Sen. Mike Rush and other state partners, they are trying to save our hospitals here in Massachusetts, get new operators, and get Norwood Hospital up and running.”

Rogers pointed to legislation from last year when she signed Chapter 343 last year, which prohibits real estate investment trust corporations from being the landlord to hospitals in Massachusetts.

Rush thanked everyone who helped make the law’s passage a reality.

“It takes a team, and everybody here was on that team,” he said. “The biggest thanks and lion’s share of the credit belongs to the people of Norwood and the surrounding communities who have been working, fighting and making their voices heard telling us, ‘We need this hospital open,’ for six years. For six years! It has been way too long, and as mentioned, the Town of Norwood and surrounding communities have suffered. But now because of the law that everybody here passed – it was a collective effort – we’ve made a great leap forward.”

Mazzucco also thanked everyone involved, including resident Pat Schick, who worked with the Norwood Senior Center to help in a letter-writing campaign. “Pat Schick, who at 88 got 500 of her friends to hand-write letters to the Department of Public Health,” he said.

Mazzucco said many others were involved and thanked everyone there.

“We are so grateful for the work that you have done that got us to this point where can, now truly, Finish the Job,” he said.