Dorchester’s political leaders are turning their attention to the emerging crisis involving Steward Health Care, which owns Dorchester’s Carney Hospital. District 3 City Councillor John FitzGerald has asked his colleagues to hold a public hearing to examine the “financial challenges” facing Steward amid public reports that the struggling health care system may need to close hospitals under its umbrella.

On Tuesday, US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey— along with US Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Rep. Stephen Lynch— urged Steward to “brief them on Steward’s financial position, the status of their Massachusetts facilities, and their plans to ensure the communities they serve are not abandoned.”

The city council hearing order is the first sought by FitzGerald, who took office on Jan. 1. It’s co-sponsored by Councillor Liz Breadon of Allston-Brighton, where another Steward-owned hospital – St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center – is located. Both hospitals could be in danger of closing or facing other negative impacts from Steward’s instability, which has been a source of anxiety in recent years, but has been heightened by recent media reports indicating that Steward’s financial problems are now at a crisis point.

The Globe reported last Friday that the for-profit health care system, which owns nine hospitals in Massachusetts, has stopped making payments to the property management company that owns its properties, including the campus on Dorchester Avenue. In a disclosure made by their landlord, Medical Properties Trust, they reached an agreement with Steward that includes “the potential sale or re-tenanting of certain hospital operations,” according to the Globe story.

There has been no specific reference to either Carney or St. Elizabeth’s, but close observers of the Carney in particular have raised concerns about the facility’s viability in recent years. Gov. Maura Healey’s office told WBUR and the Globe that it has been in regular talks with Steward about its financial situation.

In an interview on Tuesday, FitzGerald said he and Breadon are very worried about the near-term impacts of any Steward service cuts, job losses, or closures.

“We’re concerned about the public health and economic impacts to employees and patients at Carney and St. Elizabeth’s, but also about the impacts of the health care of the city in general given that we are already at capacity. If those hospitals were to fail, it really becomes a crisis,” said FitzGerald.

The hearing order, filed on Jan. 18, is expected to be discussed at the Jan. 24 meeting of the council. It will likely be assigned to the committee on Public Health that FitzGerald was assigned to chair this week by Council President Ruthzee Louijeune.

On Tuesday, Louijeune said that she fully supports a council hearing on the matter and was “really glad to see my colleagues collaborating on this issue. I also have been talking to state and federal leaders about this issue,” she added, saying that other hospital leaders in the city have indicated that their facilities are already at or nearing capacity.

“We’re already in dire straits in our health care industry nationally and here in Boston. It’s unfortunate that the for-profit model is such a big part of our system,” she said.

FitzGerald said that while Steward’s position in the Massachusetts market is an urgent matter for state officials tasked with oversight of the statewide health system, city officials need to be prepared for the possibility of closures.

“We were already thinking through the various next steps if there were to be a closure and we want to hear from other experts, ideally, about how do we make sure it can stay open,” said FitzGerald.

According to WBUR, Steward notified state regulators last month that it plans to close New England Sinai Acute Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation Hospital in Stoughton.

Steward has owned the 159-bed Carney Hospital since 2010. It was previously owned and operated by Caritas Christi, a health care system then owned by the archdiocese of Boston. Prior to that, it was controlled by the Daughters of Charity, an order of Catholic nuns who specialize in running health centers and hospitals.

In a statement to the Reporter, State Sen. Nick Collins, said: “We need to do everything we can to support Carney. The Legislature put the funding forward. Now it’s time for Health and Human Services and the Department of Public Health officials to step up and provide the funding and support needed to help Carney Hospital stabilize and thrive.”

Representative Brandy Fluker Oakley said: “It is no surprise to anyone that we need a quality hospital to serve our community, and it is imperative that we have a strong partner in the work. We need access to high quality health care provided in collaboration with a partner that will show up for our community and provide necessary resources to provide the best equitable care for us.”