A U.S. Senate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Ed Markey will hold a field hearing next month in Boston to drill down on how for-profit health care companies affect access to care, and Markey has invited Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre to testify.

Steward's nine Massachusetts hospitals "are in deep financial distress and appear to be in danger of closure because of years of mismanagement, private equity schemes, and executive profiteering," Markey and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said last week in a letter to de la Torre. The for-profit health system's financial woes have created the potential for hundreds of thousands of Bay Staters to face disruption in their access of care and have required state government to plan for various contingencies.

Markey invited de la Torre, who has been involved at Steward since Cerberus Capital Management purchased six non-profit hospitals in Massachusetts in 2010, to testify at a U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Primary Health and Retirement Security field hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. on Weds., April 3 in Boston.

Markey asked that de la Torre confirm his attendance at the hearing by March 20, submit written testimony by April 1, prepare a five-minute opening statement and "maximize the time for interaction with Subcommittee Members."

A Steward spokesperson was not able to immediately say Wednesday whether de la Torre would accept the invitation to testify.

State lawmakers also plan to delve into the role that private equity plays in the health care world, though no date for that hearing has yet been announced.

Senate President Karen Spilka, House Speaker Ronald Mariano, and Joint Committee on Health Care Financing Chairs Sen. Cindy Friedman and Rep. John Lawn said earlier this month that the hearing would "examine the relationship between health care regulators and private equity, and will solicit information and recommendations to help ensure that what is happening with Steward Health Care doesn’t happen again in the future."