Steward Health Care's dire financial footing and allegedly unpaid bills exploded into the public spotlight this month, but hospital system officials had been warning about inadequate funding supports that put community hospitals at risk since at least last year.

Steward owns nine hospitals in Massachusetts, including Good Samaritan in Brockton, Morton in Taunton, St. Anne's in Fall River and Norwood Hospital, which is closed due to flood issues.

When Steward submitted testimony to the Health Policy Commission for the autumn cost trends hearing, it urged policymakers "to make bold actions to correct a hospital marketplace that has been functionally broken since the 1990s."

Read more at heraldnews.com.