While repeating that she's saving hospitals, Gov. Maura Healey and top health officials declined to say on Friday how much public money state government plans to commit to Steward Health Care hospitals that appear poised to be sold to newly identified buyers.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kate Walsh only put a price tag of $4.5 million on St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton, as part of the state's new strategy to seize the property through eminent domain and transfer it to her former employer, Boston Medical Center.

During a State House press conference Friday afternoon, Healey, Walsh and Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Robbie Goldstein remained tight-lipped about even the broad parameters of their financing plan to transition Steward hospitals to new owners, although they said it had been vetted with legislative leaders and others.

Healey's office late Friday morning announced a deal to help some of the Steward hospitals move on to new owners, saying the administration developed a "fiscally responsible" plan with legislative leaders that includes "cash advances, capital supports and maximizing federal matches." But beyond the $30 million Massachusetts has already agreed to provide Steward in advance Medicaid payments for August, it is unclear how much the latest development in the Steward crisis will cost taxpayers.

"We're working with the acquirers to make sure that they have the funds available so that they can meet their bids," Walsh said. "The work for them starts now, and they're going to be taking over these hospitals. They're going to be staffing them up, stocking them up, and making capital investments to make sure that they're safe. And that will take funds that we're working with them to make sure they have it."

Walsh said officials are working with the Legislature and Executive Office for Administration and Finance to "identify those funds and those funds will continue over the next three years."

Healey, pressed on the cost of safeguarding the Steward hospitals, declined to offer a dollar figure.

"We're still working through some of that, but you'll see it," Healey said at her press conference. "The financing agreements will be finalized very soon."

Administration spokespeople did not answer News Service questions seeking to clarify the financing structure, or confirm whether it would involve funding packages of more than $80 million annually over the next three three years, as The Boston Globe reported.

Walsh said the Legislature has already approved some funding through the budget, namely hospital assessments, but didn't elaborate. Healey's budget called for a significant increase to hospital assessments, which would in turn lead to an increase in the state's payments to hospitals, according to the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation.

The secretary, asked whether the "cash advances" mentioned by Healey's office exceed the $30 million under the existing bridge funding agreement, said, "There are advances against the clinical care that will be offered in those facilities, so that they have working capital to run the hospitals."

The deal struck "in principle" Friday entails Lawrence General Hospital taking over operations for Holy Family Hospital in Haverhill and Methuen, while Lifespan would take over Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saint Anne's Hospital in Fall River.

Healey's office said Boston Medical Center will operate Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and eventually Saint Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton. The governor said it could take days or weeks to finalize the complex agreements.

"Today, I'm pleased to say we're closing the book on Steward once and for all in Massachusetts," Healey said. "Good riddance and goodbye."

Steward Health Care declined to comment on the governor's major announcements.

While St. Elizabeth's received a qualified bid from an "excellent hospital operator," Healey said the state must pursue eminent domain after unsuccessful negotiations during bankruptcy proceedings.

"Unfortunately, after endless go-arounds back and forth in negotiations, the landlord has refused to move," Healey said, as she blamed Apollo Global Management, which recently gained control of Steward's real estate.

Healey said the state plans to send Apollo an offer letter Friday for $4.5 million. The governor described that amount as the "appropriate and fair market value of that property."

"We will go forward from there with a further submission of an order, essentially, to take that property," Healey said.

The City of Boston assessor's office lists the assessed value of the land at 736 Cambridge Street, where St. Elizabeth's is located, at just under $51 million, with the building value listed at more than $140 million.

Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand said Apollo can choose to either accept the state's offer or set a date for when a sale would happen.

Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center are still slated to close on or around Aug. 31, a sticking point that drew frustration from advocates who have pressed the Healey administration to save all of Steward's hospitals in Massachusetts. Unlike St. Elizabeth's, Healey said the state could not take control of the Carney or Nashoba because they lacked operators willing to step in.

"The difference here is we had five hospitals where hospital systems, as acquirers, came forward to take over operations. That unfortunately did not happen with Carney or Nashoba," Healey said. "If one were to miraculously appear, that would be another thing. But where we are today, this is all we can do."

Tim Foley, executive vice president of 1199SEIU, praised Healey and her administration for saving hospitals through the "exact kind of aggressive action that the healthcare workers of 1199SEIU have been demanding from our state leaders." But Foley pleaded with the state to pursue similar action to keep Carney and Nashoba open.

"While these actions ensure that six Steward hospitals will continue to deliver life-saving care, Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center are still set to close, leaving thousands of patients and workers to fend for themselves," Foley said in a statement Friday. "We need the same level of uncompromising commitment to patients and workers at Carney and Nashoba Valley that we've seen from the state when it comes to the other Steward hospitals."

Sen. Nick Collins, whose district includes the Carney, again called on state and city leaders Friday to take "bold action" to save the hospital, as he pointed to a new source of possible funding.

"This announcement confirms what we have been saying all along: that the state and the city have the authority and resources to save our community hospitals. I applaud Governor Healey for her leadership in taking this bold action to save St. Elizabeth's Hospital," Collins said in a statement. "With the recent announcement of the $600m tobacco settlement reached by the Attorney General just days ago, it is clear we have the money to save our community hospitals."