Steward boss Ralph de la Torre has been summoned to a bi-partisan senate hearing as part of a probe into the collapse of its United States division.

The senate committee is investigating potential mismanagement of funds that put the care of patients at risk.

Steward owns 31 hospitals across the US.

Steward’s US division filed for bankruptcy in May, hot on the heels of criminal charges issued against government and Steward officials for alleged corruption in the Malta hospitals deal.

The company took over the running of the St Luke’s, Karin Grech and Gozo hospitals in 2018.

A court annulled the deal last year and a criminal inquiry found enough evidence for charges to be issued against ex-prime minister Joseph Muscat and a slew of other government officials.

The US Justice Department is reportedly also investigating Steward for fraud.

Senators on a health committee said Steward’s situation warranted a national spotlight.

They accused Steward’s leadership of “outrageous corporate greed” that harmed access to medical services, citing the spending of nearly $100 million on two private jets as an example.

Republican senator Bill Cassidy claimed a woman died after giving birth at a Steward hospital in Massachusettes after doctors realised “mid-surgery" that the supplies needed to treat her had been repossessed due to Steward’s financial troubles. 

The committee previously sought testimony from de la Torre, but he had failed to cooperate. Senators voted on Thursday to subpoena him, and he has been scheduled to testify on September 12.

Fallout from the Steward hospitals scandal in Malta is still reverberating.

Ex-health minister Chris Fearne ruled himself out of the running for European Commissioner this week, after a court decided there is enough evidence for him to face trial over his part on the scandal.

Prime Minister Robert Abela has said he removed ex- finance minister Edward Scicluna from the financial regulator, but Scicluna has so far refused to resign his role as Central Bank governor.