The Steward era in Massachusetts health care officially ended on Tuesday, but its wreckage will be with us for years. Six former Steward hospitals were transferred to new owners, and I assume they can only be an improvement.

Hospitals in Brighton, Methuen, Haverhill, Fall River, Brockton and Taunton now have not-for-profit status, after nearly 15 years of ownership by the for-profit Steward Health Care.

Steward Health Care's Ralph de la Torre, who is stepping down as the bankrupt private hospital network's chief executive, on Monday sued a U.S. Senate committee which has voted to hold him in contempt for refusing to testify about Steward's financial troubles.