Steward Health Care’s Chief Physician Executive Joseph Weinstein told Steward staff today that the recently disclosed agreement to sell Steward’s physician business to Optum is a non-binding letter of intent and has many hurdles to close, according to a recording of the meeting heard by 9fin.

“Today Steward Health Care has entered into a non-binding letter of intent to sell Stewardship Health to Optum, which is a division of UnitedHealthcare,” Weinstein told staff on a companywide internal call.