The day after Prospect Medical Holdings announced it was closing the Crozer Health system, Crozer workers and state representatives held a news conference at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, demanding the hospitals stay open while a new owner is found, writes Tom Dougherty, Bill Seiders, Madeleine Wright, Will Kenworthy and Joe Holden for CBS News Philadelphia.
But following an emergency closure hearing Tuesday afternoon, U.S. Bankruptcy Court Chief Justice Stacey G.C. Jernigan of the Northern District of Texas supported, with regret, the expedited closure of Crozer Health hospitals as early as May 2, writes Kathleen E. Carey for the Daily Times.
“Sadly, it seems like we just don’t have any other options,” the judge said.
The move puts nearly 3,000 healthcare workers out of a job.
Delaware County declared a seven-day disaster emergency after Crozer’s Monday announcement, to provide immediate support to affected patients.
Emergency rooms at Crozer-Chester and Taylor Hospital in Ridley Park will start turning away patients on Wednesday, April 23, and inpatient admissions will stop. Current patients will be discharged or transferred to other hospitals.
“They may close Crozer. We’re all very well aware of what the reality is here,” said Peggy Malone, a longtime Crozer Behavioral Health nurse and president of the Crozer-Chester Nurses Association, “but this can never happen again in this city, in this state, in this country. For-profit cannot come in and take away all of the rights of the people in a poor community.”
Delaware County communities are also scrambling to provide EMS service to its residents. Crozer provides EMS service to over a dozen Delaware County communities which will also stop when Crozer is closed, writes Katie Benard for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Delaware County’s 911 dispatch will remain operational, and ambulances will still travel to areas now relying on Crozer EMS, but individual municipalities will have to purchase or contract for more emergency vehicles and staffing.
“This is expensive and not something that was budgeted for,” said Joe McGinn, an Aston Township supervisor.
There is discussion among local officials about combining resources to sign new contracts for regional EMS services or fund local authorities.
Penn Medicine had offered $5 million to delay Crozer Health’s closing in exchange for assuming property leases for facilities in Broomall and Brinton Lake, as well as purchasing medical equipment, writes John George for Philadelphia Business Journal.
The offer was rejected by Prospect Medical Holdings.
Prospect Medical said ambulatory surgery and imaging centers at Brinton Lake, Broomall, Haverford and Media will remain open, but will be put out to bid, Carey wrote.
Prospect Medical said that interest has been received from several unnamed parties for those sites.
Penn Medicine Chief Medical Officer Dr. P.J. Brennan, in a letter sent Monday to Delaware County elected officials, said Penn was “deeply saddened to hear” that Crozer Health was closing, describing it as a “huge loss for the Delaware County community …”
“For nearly two years, Penn Medicine has been actively engaged in efforts to help sustain essential health care services at Crozer Health,” the letter stated.
Find out the latest on the Crozer Health situation at CBS News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily Times and the Philadelphia Business Journal.
