Once a bustling healthcare hub for the people of Hialeah, Palmetto General Hospital is now just a shadow of its former self, a place where the echoing hallways seem to mourn what’s been lost. It’s the ghost of healthcare past, with fewer doctors, empty beds, and the stale scent of dashed hopes. This half-century-old institution is no stranger to struggle—especially in recent years, when it’s looked more like a hospital on life support than a place of healing. Steward Health’s financial missteps and Chapter 11 bankruptcy have left the facility in shambles, but a new owner promises change. Cue cautious optimism.
Steward Health’s So-Called Leadership
Let’s just call it what it is: Steward Health let Palmetto General decay. Employees reported a snowball of issues: equipment failures, staff cuts, supply shortages, and unpaid bills piling up in a depressing cycle of neglect. Need an implant? Sorry, can’t get it. Need anesthesia? Not today. Meanwhile, vendors stopped getting paid, and surgeons had to scramble to shift patients elsewhere—if there was even another hospital willing to take them. At one point, patients coming to Palmetto’s cardiac unit for surgery found themselves in the awkward position of hearing, "Actually, there’s no one here who can do that right now."
Dr. Erik Beyer, the hospital's former cardiovascular surgeon, summed it up best when he described Steward’s operation as a “disaster.” After all, how many healthcare companies have you heard of that can’t even afford basic surgical supplies? That’s the equivalent of McDonald’s running out of fries. Yet that’s exactly what happened as medical suppliers started to cut off Steward’s hospitals due to unpaid bills. And now, with a new owner, Healthcare Systems of America, set to take over, employees and patients alike are left wondering: will anything actually change?
The Empty ER, aka ‘Like It Was Abandoned’
Walking through Palmetto General today feels more like a ghost tour than a hospital visit. Mark Criswell, a union representative for 1199SEIU, put it bluntly: “I’ve never seen it like that.” The emergency room that once brimmed with activity is now eerily quiet, with neatly made beds and only a handful of patients. Once filled with noise and movement, the ER looks like it’s been frozen in time, its emptiness a testament to a hospital in free fall. In the ICU, nurses are stretched thin, often asked to cover gaps left by nursing assistants and other critical staff who have since departed.
Where once there was urgency, now there’s vacancy. It’s almost as if Palmetto General has entered its own limbo, a place that looks like a hospital but doesn’t quite act like one. It’s hard to blame the staff; those who remain are clearly doing their best. But it’s like trying to run a race with a sprained ankle and no shoes—the odds are not in their favor.
Steward Health’s Legacy of Shortages and Empty Promises
Under Steward Health’s ownership, Palmetto General seemed to specialize in one thing: unmet promises. It bought the hospital for a hefty $1.1 billion in 2021, proclaiming intentions of revitalizing the hospital and ensuring the Hialeah community had access to quality care. What the community actually got, however, was a hospital that fell into disrepair at warp speed. By May 2024, less than three years after the purchase, Steward was filing for bankruptcy with a staggering $9 billion in liabilities. It doesn’t take a financial genius to see that things went south fast.
And let’s not forget the supply issues. Forget state-of-the-art medical care—doctors couldn’t even get basic supplies, from catheters to surgical robots. A urologist had to transfer patients to another hospital due to missing implants. Cardiologists found themselves without necessary catheter supplies. Nurses and doctors were caught in a bureaucratic limbo, fighting daily to simply get what they needed to perform their jobs.
This neglect wasn’t just an inconvenience; it was a safety hazard. For months, surgeons couldn’t rely on anesthesia services for non-emergency cases. And when there was anesthesia, it was rationed. If that doesn’t raise red flags, what does?
Enter Healthcare Systems of America: The New Hope or the Next Chapter of Trouble?
Now that the for-profit Steward Health has exited stage left, Healthcare Systems of America (HSA) is stepping in as Palmetto’s white knight—at least in theory. Registered in Nevada only a few months ago, HSA isn’t exactly a household name. But they’ve already promised to address some of the glaring issues left behind by Steward, like shoring up supplies, retaining staff, and mending community trust. The PR machine has started to churn, but residents are understandably skeptical. After all, it’s easy to make promises when you’re the new kid on the block.
According to HSA’s spokesperson, Aimee Gill, their “number one priority is to provide stability and rebuild trust with the community.” Great words, but Hialeah residents have heard it all before. While there’s hope HSA will turn things around, the jury is still out. They’ll need more than promises to prove they’re in it for the long haul.
The Impact on Employees: Nurses Hanging on by a Thread
Steward’s time at Palmetto General left employees feeling abandoned. The hospital ran through its nursing staff like water through a sieve, forcing the remaining workers to pick up the slack with fewer resources and, in some cases, fewer hours. Those who stayed often took on second jobs at other hospitals to cover the hours cut by Steward’s cost-saving measures.
For years, nurses at Palmetto have been some of the most vocal critics of Steward’s management. Many stuck it out not for the administration but for their patients. According to Lazaro Garcia, an ICU nurse and union representative, nurses showed remarkable resilience. As he put it, “The community should be proud of all the nurses of Palmetto that have stayed through the whole struggle.” They shouldn’t have to “struggle” to get their jobs done, but that’s the situation they’ve found themselves in. Even with HSA taking over, there’s concern that any improvement will be temporary—just enough to keep the doors open, but not enough to make real, lasting change.
Heart Surgeries Put on Hold
One of the most troubling aspects of Palmetto General’s downfall is the hit its cardiac surgery department has taken. Under Steward’s watch, the hospital saw an exodus of specialists, including Dr. Erik Beyer, Palmetto’s well-regarded cardiovascular surgeon. When he left, patients were suddenly without a qualified surgeon to perform complex open-heart procedures. Eight patients waiting for heart surgery found themselves either transferred to other hospitals or abandoning treatment entirely.
The situation was a symptom of Steward’s reckless cost-cutting measures. With fewer resources and little financial support, departments that once hummed with activity now sit idle. The cardiac unit used to perform 40-50 surgeries a day but has dropped to just 10. How do you go from saving lives to barely keeping the lights on?
The Questionable Path Forward
Even with HSA’s promises, it’s clear that rebuilding Palmetto General will be a monumental task. For HSA, the real challenge is regaining the community’s trust. They’ll need to prove they can make good on promises that Steward Health couldn’t. There’s talk of rehiring former staff and bringing back specialists like Dr. Beyer, who has expressed interest in returning. But whether he—and others like him—will actually want to come back to a hospital that was once a house of horrors under Steward’s rule is another question.
There’s also the issue of the hospital’s infrastructure. The place needs more than just staff; it needs a full facelift, from equipment upgrades to supply chains that won’t break down. Healthcare Systems of America has a steep hill to climb, but for now, they’ve inherited a healthcare mess that feels more like a nightmare than an opportunity.
The Bottom Line: Can Palmetto General Be Saved?
Palmetto General is at a crossroads. Years of neglect under Steward Health have turned a once-proud hospital into a barely functional skeleton. Employees are jaded, patients are wary, and the community is rightfully skeptical. Healthcare Systems of America promises change, but words alone won’t be enough. It’s going to take real action—restaffing, resupplying, and revamping—to restore Palmetto to anything resembling a proper hospital.
In the end, HSA’s leadership will either breathe life back into Palmetto General or deliver one last nail in its coffin. The residents of Hialeah deserve better than what they’ve been given. For a hospital that’s been likened to an “abandoned” building, the next few months will determine whether it remains a lost cause or a rare comeback story in a healthcare landscape littered with broken promises.