St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix is laying off hundreds of workers.Dallas-based Steward Health Care System notified the state in early October of plans to lay off 259 people at its Phoenix behavioral health hospital.Steward on Oct. 1 filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, with the state of Arizona announcing the layoff plans. Arizona companies with 100 or more employees are typically required to file WARN letters with the state ahead of mass layoffs or plant closings.In August, the Arizona Department of Health Services ordered the behavioral health hospital at 18th and Van Buren streets to cease operations because of a broken air conditioning system in the facility at a time when summer temperatures exceeded 100 degrees.expandThere were no signs of activity at St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center on Oct. 8.Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business JournalThat happened while Steward was dealing with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, trying to sell its hospitals to pay down debts.By Sept. 11, Scottsdale-based HonorHealth agreed to assume operational control of several of Steward’s hospitals and physician practices — except for St. Luke’s. At the time, HonorHealth CEO Todd LaPorte said his nonprofit organization was never asked to assume management responsibilities for the behavioral health hospital.”It was understood they had a more national strategy for what to do with behavioral health facilities throughout Steward’s national footprint,” LaPorte told Phoenix Business Journal at the time. “We were deferring to that.”Between being left out of the HonorHealth takeover package and the state health department suspending its license, the behavioral health hospital was left exposed, said John Balitis, partner at Radix Law in Scottsdale.”Without a third party like HonorHealth to rescue the facility, and given the recent suspension of operations at the facility by the Arizona Department of Health Services, the employees at that location will have to find work elsewhere,” Balitis said. “The purpose of the WARN notice is to let the workers know that.”In October 2017, Birmingham, Alabama-based Medical Properties Trust Inc. (NYSE: MPW) purchased St. Luke’s Medical Center and St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center for $126.8 million from Iasis Healthcare as part of a nationwide portfolio acquisition for Steward, according to Tempe-based real estate database Vizzda LLC.Over the years, Steward has leased the health facilities owned by Medical Properties Trust acros …
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