Ayer

With frustrations mounting over the closure of Carney Hospital at the end of August, the Boston City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday calling for a public health emergency and applying new pressure on the state to protect patient care.

"Things are moving quickly I think right now in the bankruptcy court," Healey told reporters at the State House. "I'm cautiously optimistic but it's right now in the hands of the lenders."

State public health officials have scheduled public hearings on Steward Health Care's plans to close Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer later this month.

A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge on Tuesday approved the agreement that Massachusetts state government made to provide $30 million in advance Medicaid payments to keep a handful of Steward Health Care hospitals here open through August as the company tries to sell them.

AMSC seeks to bolster its growing presence in the defense sector through the $61.4-million purchase of a NWL, a New Jersey-based firm.

More than 100 nurses from Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center flooded the hallway outside Gov. Maura Healey's office Wednesday morning, demanding that the state intervene and prevent bankrupt Steward Health Care from closing two hospitals in August.

A group of companies that are owed money from bankrupt Steward Health Care want a judge to mandate changes to the agreement that Massachusetts state government has to provide $30 million to support Steward hospitals "as they are transitioned to new operators in the near-term," taking issue with the way the deal gives the state the power to claw back the money.

Gov. Maura Healey said Monday that she lacks the authority to keep two Steward Health Care hospitals open, after the bankrupt company signaled Friday its intent to flout state regulations by prematurely shuttering Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer.

A proposed order filed in the Steward Health Care bankruptcy case outlines a "commitment" from state government in Massachusetts to provide $30 million to support Steward hospitals "as they are transitioned to new operators in the near-term."

The bankrupt Steward Health Care said Friday that it is closing two of its hospitals here in the next month or so -- Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer -- that received no qualified bids in its sales process.