Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. could be announcing a deal for Crozer Health today, according to Philadelphia health care industry sources, writes Harold Brubaker for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rumors have been circulating in Philadelphia healthcare circles for over a week that Prospect Medical has found a buyer for the Crozer system.

U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon said Crozer officials told local elected officials last week that a sale was not imminent.

About 100 Crozer employees were laid off last week. Crozer also announced it was temporarily closing a hospice center at Taylor Hospital and last month it closed a maternity ward at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

Prospect Medical Holdings, once controlled by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, sold real estate in 2019, including hospital properties in Delaware County, to Medical Properties Trust in a sale-leaseback deal to repay debt on a $457 million dividend to Leonard Green and its investors, according to Eileen O’Grady at Private Equity Stakeholder Project, a nonprofit advocacy group.

The sale meant Prospect’s hospitals had to pay millions in annual rent payments under long-term leases. Crozer has paid $30 million to $35 million annually.

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about the latest at Crozer Health.