One of Pa.’s most populated counties could be down to two hospitals soon

Reports surfaced Thursday that a Delaware County hospital system could close two hospitals.

Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. might close two hospitals in Delaware County in the coming weeks.

The corporation will reportedly start closure proceedings for Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

Delaware County has set up a page on its website for people to check for the latest developments.

State Rep. Dan Frankel (D-Allegheny), chairperson of the Pennsylvania House Health Committee, issued a statement condemning the closure of the hospital system and pledging to promote legislation intending to prevent similar situations from happening across the commonwealth in the future.

“These hospitals were ransacked, robbed and plundered for profit, and now their private equity owner gets to ride out of town, leaving communities with diminished access to health care and employment,” Frankel said. “It’s devastating, and we have the power to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

In 2016, Prospect Medical Holdings purchased the healthcare system in Delaware County. Since then it closed and ceased operations on two separate hospitals in the county, according to Frankel’s office. In January, Prospect filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for many properties across the country, including Crozer Health system, according to the Delaware County Daily Times.

If those two hospitals close, Delaware County, the fifth most populous county in Pennsylvania, would have just two hospitals left open, Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital and Riddle Hospital.

At an unrelated press conference earlier, prior to the reports on the hospitals potentially closing in March, Gov. Josh Shapiro expressed his frustrations with Crozer Health.

“I want you to know the Commonwealth has done a whole lot to try and address this challenge at Crozer. The Commonwealth, together with our county partners, have invested over $20 million to help keep that hospital open and continue to serve the people of Delco and the surrounding areas,” Shapiro said.

“Here’s the problem we have with Crozer,” Shapiro continued. “It’s owned by a for-profit entity that is a private equity firm. And I have called for the elimination of private equity, or dramatic reform for private equity in our healthcare space.”

Shapiro said it is “damn wrong” for private equity to purchase healthcare institutions and “run them into the ground while they put a profit in their pocket” and called for legislative action to remove the industry from Pennsylvania’s health care system.

Last year, the House Health Committee advanced a proposal sponsored by state Rep. Lisa Borowski (D-Delaware) that would have provided the Pennsylvania Attorney General power to review health care acquisitions to determine they are in the best interest of the public before they’re finalized.

Frankel said the panel will once again vote on Borokowski’s measure in the current session and “fast-track it through” the General Assembly.

“Medical facilities are too important to our communities for their fates to be left to corporate wheeling and dealing. Someone has to represent the interests of Pennsylvanians in these transactions long before something bad happens,” Frankel said.

But Shapiro also called on the foundation that profited from the original sale of Crozer to step up, as well as other healthcare institutions in the Philadelphia area.

“We also need our health care institutions in the Philadelphia area to step up and do more. (University of Pennsylvania) Penn has to do more. Main Line has to do more. They’re going to have to shoulder the burden of where these patients are going to go if Prospect does, in fact, shut down Crozer,” Shapiro said.

Shapiro said his office will continue to work closely with the state Attorney General’s Office to ensure people in Delaware County have access to healthcare.

“It won’t look like it does now, but we’re going to do everything in our power to ensure that they continue to have access,” Shapiro said. “It’s critically important.”

Attorney General Dave Sunday called the closing, “an avoidable travesty.”

 “Our office remains fully engaged in doing what it takes to save this healthcare system, and we hope all parties are considerate of the immense harm inflicted by a closure,” he said in a statement.  “I encourage the parties to attend the meeting focused on finding a solution, without posturing or grandstanding — the impacted communities that depend on Crozer Health System deserve good faith efforts to keep care and services in their backyard.”