The closing of Crozer Health has highlighted a disturbing statewide trend of healthcare system acquisitions.
At least 26 hospitals owned by nonprofits and for-profits have closed in Pennsylvania in the past five years, and 46 have changed owners.
Delaware County State Rep. Lisa Borowski proposed a bill last year that would require nonprofit and for-profit healthcare operators to report major proposed mergers and acquisitions to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
The attorney general would review the proposal and decide if a legal challenge is needed if it’s not in the public’s interest, writes Stephen Caruso for Spotlight PA.
Borowski’s bill passed the state House with bipartisan support last year. It was unanimously advanced out of committee in the state Senate, but GOP leaders in the upper chamber never called it up for a final vote.
Under current law, the attorney general often learns about sales or bankruptcies when it’s too late to intervene.
That’s what happened with Crozer Health.
Former Attorney General Michelle Henry sued Crozer’s private equity owner, Prospect Medical, in 2024 for breaking the terms of a sales agreement that had taken place almost a decade earlier.
By 2024, Prospect had already closed parts of the Crozer Health system.
Read about healthcare acquisitions and hospital closings in Pennsylvania at Spotlight PA.
